Nancy S. Wyman, a prescient voice of caution about Connecticut’s unfunded pension liability as state comptroller, then the lieutenant governor who gave Democrats a crucial tie-breaking vote as the presiding officer in an evenly divided state Senate, died early Wednesday, August 12. She was 80.

Her death was announced by the office of Governor Ned Lamont.

“Nancy Wyman was a good friend to me, a good friend to Democrats, and a good friend to the people of Connecticut,” Lamont said in a statement issued with Lt Gov Susan Bysiewicz, who said, “Nancy was one of a kind.”

The governor on Wednesday directed US and state flags on all Connecticut state government buildings lowered to half-staff immediately in honor of the former lieutenant governor.

Individuals, businesses, schools, municipalities, and any other private entities and government subdivisions are encouraged to lower their flags for this same duration of time. Since no flag should fly higher than the US flag, all other flags, including state, municipal, corporate, or otherwise, should also be lowered.

Flags should remain lowered until sunset on the date of interment, which have not yet been determined.

Bysiewicz on Wednesday called her predecessor “a trailblazing political leader, public servant, and first woman to serve as state comptroller who was a role model and mentor to me and so many others.

“Nancy was one of a kind. I had the pleasure of working alongside her since 1993 and was deeply honored to succeed her as lieutenant governor. Her legacy cannot be overstated. … Nancy was a friend to many, well liked and deeply respected by her many colleagues — regardless of party. She had a fabulous sense of humor and always brought the fun. Connecticut has lost a little sparkle today, and I know of no one that can fill her stilettos,” Bysiewicz added.

Wyman was the comptroller in 2010, a winner of four statewide elections and a popular figure among Democratic insiders, when Stamford Mayor Dannel P. Malloy coaxed her to abandon an easy run for reelection for a fifth term to be his running mate in a difficult campaign for governor.

The Malloy-Wyman ticket ended their party’s 20-year losing streak in gubernatorial elections, and Malloy credited Wyman as a factor in him winning the Democratic nomination and open seat. Their 6,404-vote win was the smallest margin of victory in a Connecticut gubernatorial contest in 56 years.

Wyman was a happy warrior — often partisan, but rarely unpleasant. She was a petite Jewish woman from Brooklyn, N.Y., her origins evident in a raspy accent that never faded. Her ever-present spiked-heeled pumps, worn even when marching in parades, became a playful brand.

Her unlikely political base was Tolland, a Hartford bedroom suburb of 15,000 where she and her husband, Michael, then a Travelers insurance executive, settled in 1973 to raise a family.

She was a progressive, protective of gay rights before they became synonymous with Democratic politics. As comptroller, she offered same-sex domestic partner health benefits to state employees and testified before the General Assembly in favor of a bill to legalize gay marriage.

“I can sum up my support for this bill in one sentence: To violate the rights of a few is to violate the rights of all,” Wyman said. “And until Connecticut recognizes the civil marriage of same-sex couples, the rights and liberties promised in our federal and state constitutions are lessened for every one of us.”

Wyman’s elective career spanned 40 years, beginning with her election in 1979 to the Board of Education in Tolland. She served eight years on the school board, followed by eight in the state House of Representatives, 16 as comptroller, and eight as lieutenant governor. She left office in January 2019 after Malloy declined to seek a third term.

Wyman was born April 21, 1946, in New York on the eve of the post-war baby boom. She was the younger of two sisters by seven years. In a Hartford Courant interview, she mused, “I never knew if I was a surprise or not.”

Her upbringing in Brooklyn was devoid of politics. Her dissatisfaction with her two daughters’ education in the public schools was the inspiration to run and generally become active in local Democratic politics.

An X-ray technician by training, Wyman worked as a legislative aide to Senator Michael Skelley (D-Tolland), who lost his seat in 1984 when Ronald Reagan carried Connecticut in a landslide and Republicans won control of both chambers of the General Assembly.

Two years later, Wyman was elected to the state House of Representatives on a ticket led by Gov William A. O’Neill, contributing to the Democrats retaking control of the legislature. O’Neill was a social and fiscal moderate opposed to enacting a state income tax.

Wyman was one of the lawmakers comprising a small and fragile majority that eventually stood with O’Neill’s successor, Gov Lowell P. Weicker Jr, a Republican-turned-independent, in adopting a tax on wages in 1991 and lowering the high rates on sales, businesses, and investment income.

Her election to the General Assembly came at a time of transition from careful ticket balancing achieved by party insiders at state nominating conventions to an era of primaries. Ticket balancing meant both opportunities and limits for Jews in Democratic politics in Connecticut.

Wyman was the first woman elected comptroller, an office responsible for overseeing health and retirement benefits for 200,000 state employees and retirees, as well as providing a monthly and year-end analysis of the state’s finances.

Wyman’s constitutional role as the presiding officer of the Senate made her vital to Democrats retaining effective control of the chamber after Republicans flipped three seats in 2016, producing an 18-18 tie for the last two years of her tenure.

Wyman, whose style of politics leaned toward conciliation, said the evolving nature of modern campaigning played a role in her decision to not try to succeed Malloy in 2017. While partisan on issues, Wyman’s warmth and self-deprecating humor produced friendships across the aisle, including one with former Governor M. Jodi Rell, the GOP governor whose policies she occasionally critiqued as comptroller.

The routine savaging of candidates on social media takes a toll on families, one that she was uncomfortable seeing exacted on her husband, children, and grandchildren, Wyman said. The game had changed.

She is survived by her husband, the Democratic registrar of voters in Tolland; their daughters and husbands, Stacey and Steve Papa and Meryl and Bill Baldwin; and grandchildren Kyle, Taylor, Lindsey, Max, and Sydney.

The Newtown Bee is a proud partner and is sharing this story originally appearing at CTMirror.org, the website of The Connecticut Mirror, an independent, nonprofit news organization covering government, politics, and public policy in the state.