Mark Coyle, a former Republican consultant considered by some party faithful as the driving force in George Bush’s first presidential victory in West Virginia, died in a weekend traffic collision while in New York for the homecoming football game of his alma mater, Syracuse University.

The 42-year-old Coyle was killed when his SUV swerved across a median on the New York State Thruway and struck an oncoming car head-on, killing its occupant as well.

Coyle’s daughter, 5-year-old Samantha, suffered a broken pelvis and arm, but was recovering and in stable condition Tuesday.

A former reporter for United Press International in the Charleston bureau in the late 1980s, Coyle worked in public relations for consulting firms after leaving the bankrupt wire service and helped direct former astronaut Jon McBride’s failed campaign for governor in 1996, when he lost to former Gov. Cecil Underwood in the Republican primary.

But Coyle likely left his biggest footprints in the 2000 presidential sweepstakes, helping to coordinate Bush’s successful campaign against former Vice President Al Gore.

“I give him a lot of credit for that Bush win in 2000,” Sen. Donna Boley, R-Pleasants, said Tuesday.

“He sort of kept everything together. Someone said he should write a book on all his e-mails and all the policies he put forth in 2000. He was someone who had his finger on the pulse of West Virginia. He could put out fires and he could start fires.”

Boley remembers Coyle as a tireless worker, regardless of the issue, such as the time his consulting firm worked with legislators to coax them into getting new cruisers and equipment for the State Police.

Coyle arranged for lawmakers to visit various trooper detachments to personally see cars with 200,000 miles registered and the lack of firearms while he was handling the account of the West Virginia Troopers Association.

Upon graduation from Syracuse with a degree in journalism, Coyle worked for Hoppy Kerchaval at West Virginia Radio Corp. as the Capitol correspondent, then went to UPI and worked there until the wire service fell on hard times in 1990. He worked for two consulting firms in Charleston, including the Manahan Group, as a consultant to Boley, McBride and former Sen. Sarah Minear, R-Tucker, before joining CRC Public Relations in Alexandria, Va., as a senior account executive, assigned a wide array of key corporate accounts, such as Chevron and Golden Rule Insurance Co.

“Mark’s leaving us is tragic on so many levels,” said his supervisor and senior vice president, Keith Appell.

“He was outstanding at his job because he was passionate about it and understood reporters so well. But more than that, he was a devoted, loving father to a beautiful little girl who, in every sense, was his entire world. Every time he brought Samantha into the office, he would beam with pride.

“Mark was also just plain fun to work with. He was funny, but he was opinionated. He was full of life. While I believe he is in a much better place, we will always miss him. He left us all much too soon.”

Gary Abernathy, former executive director of the GOP in West Virginia, said Coyle never lost touch with this state, staying in constant e-mail communications with the party and its more high profile members.

“He had a deep passion for conservative beliefs and always questioned you if he felt you were straying from Republican principles,” he said.

His wake and rosary are planned today at Michael J. Higgins Funeral Home in Congers, N.Y., with the funeral mass set for Thursday at St. Paul’s Catholic Church.

— E-mail:

mannix@register-herald.com