Mario Matthew Cuomo (/ˈkwoʊmoʊ/ KWOH-moh, Italian: [ˈmaːrjo ˈkwɔːmo]; June 15, 1932 – January 1, 2015) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994.

Cuomo was a baseball player and while attending St. John's University in 1952, he signed as an outfielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates for a $2,000 bonus, which he used to help purchase his wife Matilda's engagement ring.

[10] After his recovery, Cuomo gave up baseball and returned to St. John's University, earning his bachelor's degree summa cum laude in 1953.

[12] Deciding on a legal career, Cuomo attended St. John's University School of Law and graduated tied for first in his class in 1956.

[12] Despite having been a top student, the ethnic prejudice of the time led to his rejection by more than 50 law firms before he was hired by a small but established office in Brooklyn.

In 1972, Cuomo became known beyond New York City when Mayor John Lindsay appointed him to conduct an inquiry and mediate a dispute over low-income public housing slated for the upper-middle-class neighborhood of Forest Hills.

[4] Cuomo described his experience in that dispute in the book Forest Hills Diary, and the story was retold by sociologist Richard Sennett in The Fall of Public Man.

In 1974, he ran for Lieutenant Governor of New York on a ticket headed by gubernatorial candidate Howard J. Samuels, and both won the nomination of the Democratic State Committee at the party convention.

Governor-elect Carey chose to bring Cuomo into his new administration, naming him in December as his choice for Secretary of State of New York.

Cuomo had received the nomination of the Liberal Party several months previously and was urged to drop out of the race but he contested the general election against Koch and token Republican opposition.

[4] Cuomo won the primary by ten points and faced Republican nominee businessman Lewis Lehrman in the general election.

Geraldine Ferraro was ultimately nominated as his running mate, but Cuomo was chosen to give the keynote speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco.

In a scene later fictionalized in Joe Klein's Primary Colors,[27] he kept an airplane idling on the tarmac as he pondered abandoning the budget talks in order to fly to New Hampshire and enter the race.

He tried to come to a final agreement over the budget, but as he could not, he made an announcement at 3:30 p.m. that day: It is my responsibility as governor to deal with this extraordinarily severe problem.

[4]Cuomo's supporters launched a draft movement and encouraged people to write in his name in the Democratic primary, which was held on February 18, 1992.

[29] Cuomo went on to receive 6,577 votes in the primary, 3.92% of the total cast and subsequently asked the draft committee to close down, saying, "I am flattered by their support and impressed by their commitment, but I am also convinced that in fairness to themselves they ought now to end their effort.

Cuomo and fellow Democrat Ann Richards, the governor of Texas who had been defeated in her re-election campaign by George W. Bush, appeared in a series of humorous Super Bowl XXIX television advertisements for the snack food Doritos shortly afterwards, in which they discussed the "sweeping changes" occurring.

[12][35] Cuomo is also known for beginning the "Decade of the Child" initiative, an effort that included multiple health care and educational strategies to better the lives of children in New York State.

[12] Cuomo increased assistance to local law enforcement agencies in order to help reduce or eliminate crime;[12] and prison expansion in the State was continued which he is said to have regretted.

[39] Cuomo's son Chris later denied the occurrence of said assassination attempt while guest starring on an episode of The Adam Friedland Show.

[40] Cuomo was notable for his liberal political views, particularly his steadfast opposition to the death penalty,[41] an opinion that was unpopular in New York during the high-crime era of the 1980s and early 1990s.

[41] The death penalty was reinstated by Pataki the year after he defeated Cuomo in the 1994 election, although it was never put into effect and the statute was declared unconstitutional by the New York Court of Appeals in 2004.

[42] Cuomo, a Roman Catholic, was personally opposed to abortion, but he was pro-choice on the issue, believing that the State does not have the right to ban the procedure.

In a speech at the University of Notre Dame on September 13, 1984, he used the statements of the American Catholic hierarchy to make an argument: "What is ideally desirable isn't always feasible, ... there can be different political approaches to abortion besides unyielding adherence to an absolute prohibition.

[46] Joseph Pistone, an FBI agent widely known for his undercover operation as Donnie Brasco, wrote disparagingly of Cuomo in his book, Unfinished Business.

He withdrew after criticizing Republican incumbent George Pataki's leadership following the terrorist attacks on the city on September 11 the previous year.

He anchored his own prime time show Cuomo Prime Time until he was suspended and ultimately fired in 2021 for assisting his brother Andrew in navigating a sexual harassment scandal which had previously led to Andrew's resignation as Governor of New York and after two accusations of sexual harassment against Chris were made.

[51] His daughter Margaret is "a board certified radiologist, teaching professional, and national advocate for the prevention of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes".

He rose to be chief executive of the state he loved, a determined champion of progressive values, and an unflinching voice for tolerance, inclusiveness, fairness, dignity, and opportunity.

"[67] Former Governor of New York George Pataki called Cuomo "a proud son of immigrants and a compassionate leader who possessed a soaring intellect".