Carbon monoxide kills former Capital Region couple
Edward Winders, Barbara Moller die in Mexico
A former Albany County legislator and his wife died earlier this month of carbon monoxide poisoning in Mexico and their family is raising money to help bring them home.
Edward Winders and Barbara Moller, both 76, were found dead inside a room they were renting in San Miguel, Mexico, after not being seen for days, according to a Gofundme page started to help the family pay to bring their bodies home. The apartment did not have a carbon monoxide detector.
Winders and Moller had connections to Burnt Hills and New Orleans. They were founding members and board members for Voices for Global Change, a nonprofit that works to support marginalized groups in developing countries.
In a message on the Gofundme page earlier this week, Winders’ son Eric thanked those who had donated.
“We are so humbled by the support — thank you all — it is a comforting thought to know that you are all out there in our time of need,” he wrote.
Winders’ daughter, Jennifer, wrote on Facebook that the couple were in San Miguel to look for a vacation home.
Winders was the Republican minority leader in the county legislature during the late 1960s and early ’70s, representing Colonie.
He worked as the chair of John J. Kassner & Co., a Long Island engineering firm, and was also the corporate senior vice president of Bettigole, Andrews & Clarke.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from Boston University as well as a master’s and doctoral degree from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University of Albany, according to an alumni newsletter. He also served as the deputy commissioner of the state Racing and Wagering Board. He was previously married to now-retired Court of Appeals Justice Victoria Graffeo.
Winders and Moller were accomplished professionals who had turned their lives’ work toward helping others in developing countries.
In 2008, he was elected to the National Advisory Board of the National Salvation Army and before that had served as the president of Transnational Public Policy Advisors, a developmental firm headquartered in Washington, D.C.
That firm eventually merged with Voices for Global Change, with Moller as its president and Winders as its treasurer.
For 30 years Moller ran Moller Communications in Alexandria, Va. She also started Paper for Pearls, a nonprofit that bought handmade beaded jewelry from women displaced by war in Uganda.