Mario Cuomo

Governor of New York

• Born: June 15, 1932
• Birthplace: New York City, New York
• Died: January 1, 2015

Former New York governor Mario Cuomo was first voted into office in 1982 and then reelected for two additional terms. A gifted and inspiring political speaker, Cuomo gave the keynote address at the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. At the convention, he spoke out against traditional conservative Republican values and stressed the importance of a community spirit and a government that includes and serves all citizens, regardless of class or ability. Cuomo's supporters urged him to run for president in 1988 and then again in 1992, but he declined both times.

Throughout his political career, Cuomo proved his desire to serve others and exhibited exceptional ability as a negotiator. During the 1960s, he worked out compromises in disputes over community-development projects in Queens and gained a reputation as a conciliator. As governor of New York, he was credited with creating half a million jobs and spending billions on economic-development projects.

Early Years

Mario Matthew Cuomo was born on June 15, 1932, in a room above his parents' grocery store in Queens, New York. He was the youngest of Andrea and Giordano Cuomo's three children. The couple emigrated from Salerno, Italy, in the late 1920s, and Cuomo's father dug ditches in New Jersey until he could afford to buy the store in 1931.

Cuomo spoke Italian at home, and when he first entered public school in Queens, he could not speak English. As a child, he spent most of his free time in the family store. Cuomo attended St. John's Preparatory High School, where he excelled as both a student and an athlete, demonstrating a strong competitive spirit.

The young Cuomo was an excellent baseball player, and he earned a contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates right after high school. While playing for the minor-league team, he was struck by a wild pitch, resulting in a severe head injury. After spending a month in the hospital, Cuomo decided to quit baseball and return home.

Cuomo attended St. John's University on a scholarship. He was able to supplement the scholarship money by playing semiprofessional basketball and earned a bachelor's degree with top honors in 1953. He went on to study law at St. John's Law School and earned his law degree in 1956, at the top of his class once again.

Legal Career

After graduating from law school, Cuomo became a legal assistant for the New York State Court of Appeals. He joined the Brooklyn law firm Froeb & Charles in 1958 and became a partner at the firm in 1963. He gained a reputation as a strong negotiator and conciliator after he successfully represented several community groups. In 1964 and 1965, Cuomo helped the people of Willet's Point, Queens, keep their businesses when a developer threatened to clear the area's scrap-processing plants to make the site of the World's Fair more attractive. Cuomo also helped families save their homes when a construction company planned to clear the area to build a high school and athletic facility. In 1972, Cuomo was hired to assess a low-rent public-housing project that was proposed for a middle-class neighborhood in Forest Hills. The residents initially opposed the project, but Cuomo arbitrated a compromise by proposing a smaller development that would not overwhelm the neighborhood.

In 1975, Hugh Carey, a friend of Cuomo's from St. John's, was elected governor of New York. Cuomo was appointed secretary of state of New York in Carey's administration and served in the position from 1976 to 1979, during which time he reduced his department's costs by 40 percent.

Cuomo was unsuccessful in the 1977 New York City mayoral race against Edward Koch. In 1978, Governor Carey invited him to run for lieutenant governor on his reelection ballot; when Carey announced that he would not seek another term, Cuomo decided to run in his stead. He was finally elected by a narrow margin in 1982. This was a significant win, considering that Koch, his Republican opponent, was the popular candidate and had access to four times the campaign funds.

In the early 1980s, Governor Cuomo was able to increase spending and reduce taxes, thanks to the growth of the local economy. He was forced to separate his personal beliefs from his policies, and although he was perceived as being "soft" on crime because of his opposition to the death penalty, Cuomo initiated a prison-building program. Despite the fact that he is a devout Catholic, Cuomo took the position that the state should not deny a woman's right to choose on the issue of abortion.

Bowing Out

In 1986, Cuomo won his reelection bid for the governor's office by the largest margin in the history of New York elections. During his second term, the economy throughout the Northeast experienced a downturn, and despite statewide budget problems, he was elected to a third term. Cuomo's constituents encouraged him to run for president in 1992, but he felt that his responsibilities as governor took priority. On December 20, 1991, Cuomo announced that he would not seek the Democratic nomination, citing the severe budget problem in New York, an $875 million gap between income and expenditures, as his reason. In 1994, Cuomo lost his reelection bid to Republican George Pataki.

After leaving office, Cuomo went to work for the prominent Manhattan law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher and continued to maintain a high profile as a public speaker and strong defender of Democratic ideals. He also served on the board of Medallion Financial, a company that offers loans for the purchase of taxi medallions, and was a member of the advisory board of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

Cuomo published several books both during and after his political career, including Diaries of Mario M. Cuomo: The Campaign for Governor (1984), based on the diaries he kept during his 1982 campaign; More than Words: The Speeches of Mario Cuomo (1993), a collection of speeches given between 1974 and 1993; and Reason to Believe (1995), a comprehensive rebuttal of prevailing conservative philosophy during the 1990s. In 1995, he began hosting a nationally syndicated weekly radio talk show.

Cuomo was hospitalized for treatment for a heart condition in late November 2014. Shortly afterward, on January 1, 2015, he passed away due to heart failure at his Manhattan home. He was eighty-two. His death came just hours after his son, Andrew Cuomo, was sworn in for his second term as governor of New York.

Personal Life

Cuomo was married to Matilda Raffa for more than sixty years, from 1954 until his death in 2015. They had five children—Margaret, Andrew, Maria, Madeline, and Christopher—and fourteen grandchildren. Andrew Cuomo, the eldest son, followed in his father's political footsteps; after working in the administration of President Bill Clinton and then serving as New York attorney general for five years, he was elected governor of New York in 2010 and reelected in 2014. Christopher Cuomo is a television journalist, having most notably worked for ABC News and CNN. Margaret Cuomo is a well-known radiologist and philanthropist who serves on the board of the nonprofit organization Less Cancer.

Bibliography

Kaplan, Thomas. "Mario Cuomo, Former New York Governor, Is out of Hospital." New York Times. New York Times, 10 Dec. 2014. Web. 19 Jan. 2015.

Nagourney, Adam. "Mario Cumo, Ex–New York Governor and Liberal Beacon, Dies at 82." New York Times. New York Times, 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 19 Jan. 2015.

Shesol, Jeff. "Mario Cuomo's Finest Moment." New Yorker. Condé Nast, 2 Jan. 2015. Web. 19 Jan. 2015.