About Lenny Skutnik
Born 1953. Lenny Skutnik is a civil servant.
Martin Leonard Skutnik III (born 1953 in Mississippi, known as Lenny) is a retired employee of the United States Congressional Budget Office who, on January 13, 1982, saved the life of Priscilla Tirado following the crash of Air Florida Flight 90 into the frozen Potomac River, Washington, D.C. As passengers were being rescued, Tirado was too weak to take hold of the line dropped from a helicopter. Skutnik, one of hundreds of bystanders, dived into the icy water and brought her to the river bank.
U.S. President Ronald Reagan invited Skutnik to attend the 1982 State of the Union address on January 26, 1982, where he sat next to First Lady Nancy Reagan; Reagan praised Skutnik as manifesting "the spirit of American heroism at its finest". Since then, others invited to sit in the Presidential gallery and honored in the president's speech have often been called Lenny Skutniks.
Skutnik received the United States Coast Guard's Gold Lifesaving Medal, the Carnegie Hero Fund Medal, and various other tributes.
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Important facts
People in Lenny Skutnik's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Lenny Skutnik's
Frequently asked questions
Who is Lenny Skutnik?
Civil servant and civilian hero
When was Lenny Skutnik born?
Lenny Skutnik was born in 1953.
What is Lenny Skutnik's occupation?
Lenny Skutnik is a civil servant.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Lenny Skutnik. https://biography.guide/lenny-skutnik/
MLA: "Lenny Skutnik." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/lenny-skutnik/.
Chicago: "Lenny Skutnik." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/lenny-skutnik/.
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