Mario Cuomo, former three-term governor of New York, dies at 82

Bill San Antonio

Mario Cuomo, the three-term governor of New York who was twice considered a Democratic presidential favorite, died Thursday hours after his oldest son, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was sworn in for his second term. He was 82.

The former governor did not attend his son’s inauguration and was recently hospitalized with a heart condition. 

The Cuomo family Thursday told CNN – where Mario Cuomo’s youngest son Christopher is an anchor – that the former governor died at home of “natural causes due to heart failure.”

Andrew Cuomo said in his inaugural address that he spent New Year’s Eve with his father and went through his speech with him prior to taking the stage during a ceremony on the 64th floor of One World Trade Center.

“He said it was good, especially for a second termer,” Andrew Cuomo said. “See, my father is a third-termer, but he sends his regards to all of you.”

“He couldn’t be here physically today, my father. But my father is in this room,” he continued. “He is in the heart and mind of every person who is here…his inspiration and his legacy and his experience is what has brought this state to this point.”

A funeral service for Cuomo was held Tuesday at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Manhattan.

Mario Cuomo served as New York’s 52nd governor from 1983-94, having previously served as the state’s lieutenant governor and secretary of state.

He received national attention for his keynote address at the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco in which he criticized President Ronald Reagan’s political record and argued in favor of abortion rights weeks later in a speech at the University of Notre Dame, making him a presidential frontrunner in 1988 and 1992.

His reluctance to seek higher office, even after emerging as a Supreme Court candidate during President Bill Clinton’s first term, earned him the nickname “The Hamlet on the Hudson.”

Cuomo was defeated for a fourth term in 1994 by Republican George Pataki, who Thursday offered his “deepest condolences” on the former governor’s death on his Twitter page, calling him a “great New Yorker.”

President Obama in a statement Thursday called Cuomo “an unflinching voice for tolerance, inclusiveness, fairness, dignity and opportunity.”

“His own story taught him that as Americans, we are bound together as one people, and our country’s success rests on the success of all of us, not just a fortunate few,” Obama said.

The White House said Obama called Andrew Cuomo to offer condolences.

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, a Republican, who attended Thursday’s inauguration, said in a statement, “…I’m certain, he was most proud to know that his son, Andrew Cuomo, was sworn in for a second term as New York state governor today.”

Mario Matthew Cuomo was born on July 15, 1932, to Italian immigrant parents who owned a grocery store in South Jamaica, Queens.

He excelled as a baseball player growing up and signed as a centerfielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the early 1950s, while he was a student at St. John’s University.

In one season with the club’s Brunswick affiliate in the Georgia-Florida league, Cuomo hit .244 in 254 at-bats through 81 games, with one home run.

A scouting report on Cuomo published in a 2006 MLB.com article said he was “a below average hitter with plus power” who was “potentially the best prospect on the club.”

It also said Cuomo “is another who will run you over if you get in his way.”

Cuomo later earned undergraduate and law degrees from St. John’s, where he taught as an adjunct law professor for 10 years and met his wife Matilda Raffa Cuomo, with whom he was married 60 years.

The couple had five children – Margaret, Andrew, Maria, Madeline and Christopher – and 14 grandchildren.

He practiced law privately and publicly for 18 years, gaining political traction in 1972 after he was appointed by New York City Mayor John Lindsay to resolve a dispute over low-income housing in Forrest Hills.   

As governor, Cuomo presented 11 balanced state budgets during two recessions while putting forth various ethical, fiscal and environmental reforms.  

He also declared the start of the “Decade of the Child,” through which his administration instituted efforts to improve the livelihoods of New York’s children.

“Having had the privilege of working with him, I always admired Mario Cuomo’s relentless efforts to extend the compassionate hand of government to those most in need,” state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said in a statement. “From the ‘Family of New York’ to ‘the Decade of the Child,’ Mario Cuomo continuously sought to unite New Yorkers to achieve the common good.”

Dean Skelos, the Republican state Senate Majority Leader, said in a statement Thursday that Cuomo “was a legendary figure in New York politics who chose public service for all the right reasons. He could have run for president or been appointed to the Supreme Court, but he chose to stay and serve the people of New York.”

“He used his gift for oratory to speak about his beliefs and ideals with great passion and, in doing so, made a significant impact on the political history of our state and nation,” he added.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in a statement said “Cuomo was a man of unwavering principle who possessed a compassion for humankind without equal.”

He also ordered all flags, already flying low in memory of slain New York police officers Weinjan Liu and Rafael Ramos, remain at half-staff for Cuomo for 30 days.

The governor’s office said Friday that flags on state government buildings would also fly at half-staff in memory of the former governor.

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