Domenici Hall may be a familiar building to many NMSU students, but the man behind the name may not be as well known. Pete V. Domenici was a US senator who represented New Mexico for six terms (1973-2009).

On September 13, 2017, Domenici passed away at age 85, due to an abdominal complication. He had suffered from frontotemporal lobar degeneration before his passing, which stopped him from running for a 7th term as senator.

In September of 2014, NMSU memorialized Domenici with the opening of the Pete V. Domenici Hall, which is located on the Las Cruces campus. The building was built to preserve the hard work and commitment which Domenic exemplified throughout his career.

The Domenici Institute hosts public policy conferences in Domenici Hall each year. The purpose of these conferences is to “inspire the next generation of public policy researchers and leaders.”

Pete Domenici had touched many people throughout New Mexico. A few people who have spoken out about his passing are Chancellor Garrey Carruthers, NM State Representative Bill McCamley, and Senator Tom Udall, who was preceded by Domenici.

Many NMSU students may have received an email from Chancellor Carruthers which expressed his deep regrets concerning Domenici’s passing: “With his passing, we lost a great American. We lost a great New Mexican. We lost a great friend. Most of us who were lucky enough to know him have learned from him” said Carruthers  “We’ve been mentored by him. And every one of us in the state of New Mexico has been supported by him.”

Representative McCamley also praised Domenici, and commented on how being a different political party never stopped Domenici from wanting to work with everyone.

“He valued bipartisanship, not letting his personal differences with Democrats get in the way of working with them when there was room for agreement,” McCamley explained.  “We should all try to be more like him in this respect.”