LAKE PLACID — State Senator and Wilmington native Erik Bottcher is the New York State Public Health Association’s legislator of the year.
Bottcher, D-Manhattan, was honored on Thursday for his championing of public health causes from his past time on the New York City Council and now the New York state Senate. His award was presented at the 76th annual Public Health Partnership Conference, held in Lake Placid.
While Bottcher was in New York City at the time, his parents, Jerry and Linda, accepted on his behalf. Jerry addressed approximately 400 attendees in the room, sharing that Erik was only able to grow into the person he is today because of the care of dedicated public health professionals — who saved his life.
Jerry, Linda and their son Evan still live in Wilmington, where Erik was born and raised. Jerry reminded the attendees that Wilmington’s population isn’t much more than twice the number of people sitting in that room. The town, he said, doesn’t have a stoplight.
Around when Erik started high school in Lake Placid, he realized he was gay.
“He realized he was a little different than his peers,” Jerry said. “And that difference created some serious issues for my son. Issues severe enough that it nearly ended his life on three occasions. My son realized he was gay.”
In a world far less accepting than today’s, Jerry said Erik was bullied relentlessly, which out of shame, he didn’t share with his parents at the time.
“Every day when my wife and I said goodbye to him, when he got on that school bus in front of our house, we had no idea of the fear and humiliation that was waiting for him in his high school,” he said.
Erik attempted suicide on three occassions. After his third unsuccessful attempt at ending his life, Erik told his parents about his sexual orientation, and how his life at school was hell on Earth. He faced not one, not two — but seven bullies.
Jerry shared that in high school, he had faced one bully nearly twice his weight and size. It hurt, especially since Jerry’s dad died when he was 13, and there was nobody he could turn to. Jerry said while he had that perspective to compare to, he couldn’t have imagined what it must have been like for Erik to have seven bullies, becoming visibly emotional during that part of the speech on Thursday.
“He never told me who those seven were,” he said. “But it was a good thing. Because I would have strangled those stupid dumb little bastards.”
Devastated, Jerry and Linda immediately reached out to an area health agency, which recommended Erik receive mental health treatment at the Four Winds Hospital in Saratoga Springs.
“Erik spent several weeks there,” Jerry said. “He learned a lot about self-acceptance, self-confidence and his own personal stress.”
On the advice of local health experts upon his return home, Erik attended weekly visits to a therapist in Keene Valley, whom he developed a good and trusting relationship with. To call Erik’s life after that transformative would be an understatement, Jerry said.
“The care, the advice and professional attention given to my son during so many of those months dramatically changed his life,” he said. “As a result of that professional care — and I want to tell you a little bit about Erik’s life following that — he graduated from high school and was accepted in George Washington University with nearly a full scholarship. He majored in political science and the reason he majored in political science is because he wanted to enter politics so he could make a difference and contribute to the legislation that would improve people’s lives exactly like so many people had improved his.”
Erik joined the administration of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in early 2011, where he served as a special assistant for community affairs, specifically as a liaison for LGBTQ policy. This coincided with the Cuomo Administration readying and renewing its push for same-sex marriage legalization in New York, nearly two years after an initial effort failed in the state senate.
This time was different.
It was in no small part due to Erik. He played a seminal role in shepherding the bill through the legislature, Jerry said, making sure mistakes that doomed the bill in 2009 were not repeated.
It passed and Cuomo signed the Marriage Equality Act on June 24, 2011 — more than four years before it was federally recognized with the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges ruling. Jerry will never forget the night New York moved forward.
“I’ll remember forever the midnight phone call I received from Erik, a very weeping and proud Erik, right after that historic legislation was passed,” he said. “I was his first phone call.”
Following his time in the Cuomo administration, Erik entered New York City politics, where he lives. He served as the chief of staff for city Council Member Corey Johnson. In 2021, Johnson was term-limited. Erik ran and won that seat resoundingly. He was a strident advocate for mental health resources and funding expansion. He often noted that he was incredibly lucky for both a loving family and one with the resources — good health insurance — to get him the care he needed. It wasn’t lost on him that many other New Yorkers lacked one or both of those, some tragically taking their own lives and others continuing to struggle.
After a brief run for Congress amidst a crowded Democratic primary field to replace longtime House Member Jerry Nadler, Bottcher instead opted to run in a special election for an open state senate seat in New York’s 47th district, which includes the Upper West Side, Hell’s Kitchen and the Chelsea neighborhoods. Bottcher was selected by the Manhattan Democratic Party and won the Feb. 3, 2026 special election with more than 90% of the vote.
His son’s meteoric rise wasn’t lost on Jerry.
“Sixty-three New York senators, together, discussing legislation to benefit the lives of over 20 million citizens,” he said. “All this, from Wilmington, New York. No stop light.”
Closing out his acceptance speech, Jerry said none of this would have been possible without the work that continues every day and in all sorts of circumstances and hardships, from the people sitting in front of him.
“On behalf of my wife, Linda; Erik’s two siblings, Lauren and Evan; and me, I want to express our deepest gratitude to the New York State Public Health Association for honoring my son as you have today,” he said. “We will be forever thankful for the role your association collectively played in saving my son’s life.”