Frank Powers, GOP candidate for Congress, dies of heart attack

The man Republicans chose to replace disgraced Congressman Vito Fossello died in his sleep Sunday at his home on Staten Island.

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Frank Powers, 67, a retired Wall Street executive and board member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was discovered in bed yesterday morning by his wife, Dianne, after apparently dying in his sleep of a heart attack, police said.

With only two weeks to go before the filing deadline to submit signatures for a new candidate, GOP leaders were scrambling yesterday to find another candidate.

“We need to meet within the next 24 hours” to choose a new candidate, Craig Eaton, the Brooklyn Republican party chairman told the New York Post.

The last two months have been devastating to the local Republican Party: First, Fossella - the only Republican left in New York City’s Congressional delegation - withdrew re-election plans after a drunk driving arrest led to revelations of a double life with a girlfriend and a child in Virginia.

Then Powers, a millionaire philanthropist and former Fossella finance chairman, was designated to run in his place – only to face embarrassing publicity when his eldest son, also named Frank Powers, sought unsuccessfully to win the Libertarian designation to run against him.

And now this.

Although Powers had never held elective office, he was considered an attractive option for the GOP because he’d vowed to spend up to $500,000 of his personal wealth on a race which is expected to be hard fought by Democratic challenger Michael McMahon in a presidential election year said to favor Democrats.

Son Brian Powers, 23, flanked by several of his siblings, read a statement Sunday on the steps of the family home in Todt Hill, thanking people for their support and asking for prayers for the father of seven.

Noticeably absent, according to the Post, was son Frank, a carpenter and musician, who had sought to challenge his father.

The elder Powers was a partner at the investment firm of Weiss, Peck and Greer in Manhattan until his retirement in 2002. A millionaire philanthropist, he was also a founding member of the Chicago Board of Options, and a New York Stock Exchange member for 27 years.

Fossella told the Staten Island Advance yesterday that Powers was “a true American success story.”

“He lived the American Dream,” Fossella said. “He was genuine and he had integrity. He was an honest man. He had a heart as big as the shamrock on the front of his house. He epitomized what America is in terms of potential, and yet he never forgot where he came from. Charitable organizations across Staten Island felt his generosity. He truly believed in the compassionate side of life.”

Officials said the deadline for the new candidate to collect signatures is July 10.

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