President Bill Clinton. Retirement Manton retired from the Congress in 1998, having already filed for and circulated petitions for re-election. He withdrew on the last day it was legally possible to do so and arranged for his chosen successor, State Assemblyman Joseph Crowley, to replace him on the ballot. Crowley wasn't aware of this until Manton phoned him to tell him his name would be on the general election ballot. Crowley won the election and held the seat until losing in the 2018 Democratic primary to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Manton continued to serve as the Queens County Democratic Party chairman until his death. After leaving office, he joined the law firm of Manton, Sweeney, Gallo, Reich & Bolz in 1999. Personal life After leaving Congress, he lived in the Queens neighborhoods of Woodside, later moving to Sunnyside, and finally to Astoria. Thomas Manton died on July 22, 2006, following a battle with prostate cancer. The Thomas J. Manton Post Office in Woodside, New York was named in his honor after his death. Also a 20 block stretch of Queens Boulevard in Queens, New York City was renamed Thomas J. Manton Boulevard. See also References "Thomas Manton, former congressman from New York, dies", Newsday, July 23, 2006 "Thomas J. Manton Dies; Ex-Congressman Was 73", by Sewell Chan, July 23, 2006, New York Times Congressional Biographical Directory External links 1932 births 2006 deaths St. John's University (New York City) alumni Deaths from prostate cancer United States Marines IBM employees New York City Police Department officers New York City Council members 2000 United States presidential electors 2004 United States presidential electors Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) 20th-century American politicians People from Woodside, Queens People from Sunnyside, Queens