Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

Sunday, November 08, 1992     Page: 1A/16A QUICK WORDS: WIDEMAN

Wideman remembered for dedication to county
   
************************
    FILE PHOTO
   
Edmund C. Wideman
   
************************
   
1964-1980 county commissioner died Saturday at the age of 75
   
By JIM KERSTETTER
   
Times Leader Staff Writer
   
WILKES-BARRE — Former Luzerne County Commissioner Edmund C. Wideman Jr.
died Saturday morning at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.
   
He was 75. He spent most of the past several months in hospitals after
suffering a heart attack in August.
   
He was a county commissioner from 1964 to 1980, serving two terms as
chairman.
   
Born in Wilkes-Barre, he was the son of the late Edmund C. and Adele Braun
Wideman. He was a graduate of St. Nicholas High School, Wyoming Seminary and
St. Bonaventure College.
   
Wideman was a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific theater
in World War II, and was awarded the United States Navy Presidential Unit
Citation for his service there.
   
During his 16-year term as a commissioner, Wideman spearheaded efforts to
build the Luzerne County Community College and was instrumental in the startup
and operation of Valley Crest Nursing Home and the Keystone Job Corps Center
in Drums.
   
“Anybody who knows, knows he was the father of LCCC,” said Paul Maher, an
administrative assistant to U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, and a
longtime friend and assistant to Wideman.
   
“He was always concerned about the education of the young people,” Maher
said. “We had colleges here but they were out of the reach of many of them. He
wanted to get at least a two-year college so they could get a start.”
   
Wideman is credited with a “creative financing” deal that allowed the
county to buy the land where LCCC now stands for $1.
   
“He always told me it was creative financing,” Maher said. “The taxpayers
in the county never realized the kind of deal they got out of it.”
   
Maher said he was never knew all the details of the $1 transaction, but
understood Wideman was able to pull together several local banks and lending
institutions for financing the project and save the taxpayers a bundle of
money.
   
Wideman was known as a solid budget maker, and reduced taxes at least twice
while in office.
   
“Being in the real estate business and a banker, he understood all that. He
had a hand on county business like no one else,” Maher said.
   
Wideman was known for his blunt, outspoken voice on county issues.
   
“He spoke his mind. He was fiery, quite the politician,” County
Commissioner Frank Crossin Jr. said.
   
Crossin said Wideman was a “lively person,” and a mainstay of the county
Democratic Party.
   
“He told me if there was ever anything we needed to know — background for
something we were working on — not to hesitate to call,” he said. “He said
his door was always open for his help on things like that.”
   
Luzerne County Assessor Ed Brominski said: “He was a good Democrat, he was
the kind of guy who said it like it was… He was the last in the line of an
old breed of politicians. He was out in front, telling people what he thought.
I’m glad that I knew him.”
   
Maher said, “In my experiences, if a person came to him for a job, he found
you a job. And never questioned what you were registered. He always looked at
qualifications. That got him in trouble once in a while with the county party
bosses.”
   
Wideman played an integral role in the rebuilding of the Wyoming Valley
after Hurricane Agnes in 1972, Brominski said.
   
He was chairman of the Institution District and served on the Luzerne
County Prison Board and as chairman of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International
Airport Board.
   
He also initiated the predecessor of Luzerne County Human Resources.
   
Prior to becoming commissioner, he served as chairman of the Luzerne County
Board of Assessment from 1960 to 1964.
   
Wideman ran the 1976 Democratic presidential campaigns in 16 counties for
U.S. Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson, Maher said.
   
Maher was a founder of the Susquehanna Savings and Loan Association, and
served as chairman of the board for many years.
   
He was past president of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Board of Realtors.
   
He was a member of St. Nicholas Church in Wilkes-Barre, the Westmoreland
Club, the Fox Hill Country Club, the Westmoreland Club, the Elks Club, St.
Conrad’s Society, the American Legion, the Knights of Columbus, the Franklin
Club and the Pennsylvania Society.
   
He was once chosen as “Man of the Year” by the Wilkes-Barre Lions.
   
But Wideman’s years as a Democratic commissioner — 12 as a member of a
Democratic majority — were also marked by frequent confrontations with fellow
Democrat Frank “Chink” Crossin, the late father of current Luzerne County
Commissioner Frank Crossin Jr.
   
He once even accused the elder Crossin of using county employees to repair
his own property after the Agnes flood.
   
Frank Crossin Jr. said describing his father and Wideman as both
adversaries and allies was an accurate picture.
   
“I think in politics you have things like that. When people vote they have
to act as individuals and as they see proper,” Crossin said.
   
Crossin teamed in 1979 with Brominski for a new Democratic majority for the
county commissioners. Wideman ran on his own but lost.
   
“Frankly, I’m not a good politician,” Wideman told the audience at his last
commissioners meeting. “I don’t know how I’ve survived. You don’t sit up here
and say the things I’ve said if you’re a good politician.”
   
But Wideman’s career in politics was far from over.
   
In 1984, about 75 dissident Democrats elected Wideman chairman of the new
county Democratic Committee.
   
“The whole party needs a breath of fresh air,” Wideman said. “This can be a
start. We can change the image of the party.”
   
But County Democratic Party chairman Jim Bach said Wideman never held a
grudge against Frank Crossin Jr. when he found himself in a tough county
commissioner race last year.
   
“He carried over very few of the differences with Mr. Crossin. He had
respect for young Frank. That showed me he was a man of character,” Bach said.
   
At the time of his death, Wideman was a commissioner of the Pennsylvania
Real Estate Commission after an appointment by Gov. Robert Casey.
   
He was also appointed in February to the Earth Conservancy board of
directors by Kanjorski.
   
Wideman’s friends and foes all agreed — he was one of a kind.
   
“I don’t think you’re going to see the likes of Ed Wideman,” Maher said. “I
lost a real, true friend. He was the best thing to happen to Luzerne County
government for a long time.”