After nearly 40 years of pushing for progressive change on environmental and educational policy, Maryland Energy Administration leader Paul Pinsky is retiring from public service.

Pinsky led the Maryland Energy Administration for the past three years, pushing to expand programs that put clean energy projects in places like schools and public buildings. And before that, he spent three dozen years in the General Assembly as a Democrat representing Prince George’s County and rising to lead a key education and environment committee.

At 75 and having weathered health challenges and surgeries in the last couple years, Pinsky said the time is right to move on.

Examining his goals and his health, Pinsky wrestled with the decision to retire. The lure of being able to play more tennis, spend time with friends and launch writing projects pushed him to make the decision. He told his staff on Wednesday.

“I didn’t want to wait until my sell-by date,” Pinsky said.

Pinsky said he enjoyed directing the Maryland Energy Administration, which Gov. Wes Moore tapped him to lead in 2023.

The MEA doesn’t have regulatory authority over energy projects; rather, it works to promote clean energy, including by running grant and incentive programs.

“I’ve enjoyed the job; it’s invigorated me,” Pinsky said.

Pinsky said he’s proud of his work to expand clean energy, including a $50 million program that funds projects like putting solar panels on government buildings.

He’s also excited about efforts to get more net-zero carbon schools that rely on geothermal and solar power. Where there were only three such schools, soon there will be about a dozen, Pinsky said.

Challenges lie ahead for Maryland on the energy front, as power-hungry data centers come online, Pinsky said. The state will have to manage how they will be powered, and whether the juice comes from clean power.

And he’s disappointed to see offshore wind projects stalled amid litigation and opposition from President Donald Trump’s administration.

Before taking the reins at MEA, Pinsky spent 36 years in the General Assembly, rising from a progressive backbencher in the House of Delegates to the chair of the Senate’s Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee.

“I’ve been fighting for social, economic and environmental justice for 39 years,” he said.

To get to his Senate leadership post, Pinsky had to win over the late Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, a powerful leader who had opposed Pinsky when he ran for Senate.

Pinsky said he and other progressives “gave Mike Miller heartburn for awhile,” opposing measures that sent state money to sports stadiums and deregulating the electricity market.

The two had become friends by the time Miller died in 2021.

Pinsky counted many environmental and climate victories over his legislative career, including passing the Healthy Air Act in 2006 that mandated pollution reductions and power plants, as well as the Climate Solutions Now Act in 2022 that pushes the state further toward clean energy.

Pinsky credited grassroots environmental and climate activists for partnering with him and lobbying hard to get the bills to pass.

“I didn’t have these successes because of me or because of me convincing people,” he said.

Pinsky was a key player in the creation and passage of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a long-term plan to increase funding and improve the quality of the state’s public schools.

As the coronavirus swept into Maryland and Pinsky shepherded the Blueprint bill to passage in the Senate, at home, he was tending to the needs of his wife, Joan Rothgeb, who was in the late stages of battling pancreatic cancer.

Rothgeb died hours after the final Senate vote on the Blueprint.

Pinsky and Rothgeb were both educators and activists early in their careers. Pinsky taught high school social studies and considers himself “an organizer at heart.”

Pinsky hopes his post-retirement era will include writing and sharing wisdom with future generations of progressive leaders. He believes others can learn from his career.

Pinsky said he always tried to hold true to his progressive values while working for change.

“It was a long, great ride,” he said.