Former Rep. Barber Conable Jr., 81, died Nov. 30 of complications from a staph infection at a Sarasota, Fla., hospital. The former Republican Congressman from western New York served for two decades in the House and was a senior Republican in the Ways and Means Committee.

During his 10 terms in Congress, Conable revised the House seniority system, sculpted legislation that lowered tariff barriers, and was appointed to positions on the Joint Economics Committee, the House Budget Committee and the House ethics committee. Conable later served as president of World Bank, from 1986 to 1991.

Conable served as a New York state Senator from 1962 to his election to Congress in 1965.

He was a graduate of Cornell University and its law school and would later practice law in New York. Conable also served in the Marine Corps during World War II and the Korean War.

The Warsaw, N.Y., native was also a chair of the Smithsonian Board of Regents’ executive committee, the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the Commission on Global Governance, and the Security and Exchange Commission’s advisory committee on capital formation and regulatory processes.

Conable is survived by his wife of 51 years, Charlotte, four children, 11 grandchildren and a brother.

— Carolyn Shuckerow