Rick Cotton


Rick Cotton is the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He assumed this role in 2017. Cotton is also a Port Authority board member.

Early life and education

Cotton was born in 1945 or 1946 in the South Side neighborhood of Chicago. His mother, Sylvia Cotton, founded Illinois Action for Children, a nonprofit that helps children with their medical issues and education. His father, Eugene Cotton, served as a labor lawyer. Cotton has a BA from Harvard University and a JD from Yale Law School.

Career

Cotton served as Supreme Court Associate Justice William J. Brennan Jr.'s clerk during 1970–1971. He served as NBCUniversal's general counsel and New York governor Andrew Cuomo's "transportation czar" prior to becoming the Port Authority's executive director.

Personal life

Cotton married Elizabeth W. Smith, the Assistant Commissioner of New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, in 2011.
On March 9, 2020, New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced that Cotton had been infected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019. His wife also tested positive for the virus, and the couple were reported to have self-quarantined in their home. Cuomo reported on March 22 that Cotton had recovered from SARS-CoV-2 without having been hospitalized.