--- title: Mario Cuomo Dead: Former New York Governor, Liberal Icon Dies at 82 description: Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo died on Jan. 1 at age 82 canonical: https://time.com/3651726/mario-cuomo-dead-new-york-governor/ author: Dan Hirschhorn article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-02T01:42:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T20:46:24.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mario Cuomo, Former New York Governor and Liberal Icon, Dies at 82 og:description: Cuomo died just hours after his son was inaugurated to a second term as governor. og:url: https://time.com/3651726/mario-cuomo-dead-new-york-governor/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2603e0e7eb823b40/698777d7f887dc52e2e894a4/mario-cuomo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3470 og:image:height: 1952 og:image:alt: New York Governor Mario Cuomo delivers the keynote speech at the '84 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mario Cuomo, Former New York Governor and Liberal Icon, Dies at 82 twitter:description: Cuomo died just hours after his son was inaugurated to a second term as governor. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2603e0e7eb823b40/698777d7f887dc52e2e894a4/mario-cuomo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mario Cuomo, Former New York Governor and Liberal Icon, Dies at 82 > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Mario Cuomo's 1984 Convention Speech [Watch (HLS stream): Mario Cuomo's 1984 Convention Speech](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/t6RLC29o.m3u8) (7:35)  _Published 2015-01-02. Watch Mario Cuomo's landmark 1984 Convention Speech on equality._ by [Dan Hirschhorn](https://time.com/author/dan-hirschhorn/) ## Dan Hirschhorn Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:46 PM UTCPublished: Jan 2, 2015 1:42 AM UTC  New York Governor Mario Cuomo delivers the keynote speech at the '84 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. New York Governor Mario Cuomo delivers the keynote speech at the '84 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. Wally McNamee—Corbis by [Dan Hirschhorn](https://time.com/author/dan-hirschhorn/) ## Dan Hirschhorn Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:46 PM UTCPublished: Jan 2, 2015 1:42 AM UTC Mario Cuomo, the former New York governor whose fiery, eloquent advocacy of liberal policies made him a key figurehead in the Democratic Party for years, died Thursday. He was 82, and his death was confirmed by the office of his son, current New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo died just hours after his son was inaugurated to a second term as governor. Andrew Cuomo said during his inauguration Thursday that his father was too ill to attend. Cuomo’s family said he died “from natural causes due to heart failure this evening at home with his loving family at his side.” President Barack Obama paid tribute to “a determined champion of progressive values, and an unflinching voice for tolerance, inclusiveness, fairness, dignity, and opportunity.” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the President also phoned Andrew Cuomo to personally extend his condolences. “An Italian Catholic kid from Queens, born to immigrant parents, Mario paired his faith in God and faith in America to live a life of public service—and we are all better for it,” Obama said in a statement. “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.” Mario Cuomo served as governor from 1983 to 1994, during which he was twice considered a clear frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination. But both times, in 1988 and 1992, he declined to run. His keynote speech at the 1984 Democratic convention is remembered as a forceful defense of liberalism—and a searing attack on then-President Ronald Reagan. “Mr. President, you ought to know that this nation is more ‘a tale of two cities’ than it is just a ‘shining city on a hill,'” Cuomo said then. Cuomo often found his liberal policy ambitions in New York thwarted by a harsh economic climate, but his personification of the Democratic Party’s liberal wing at a time when conservatism was ascendant made him a political player far beyond the state’s borders. The 1984 convention speech was a high-water mark in his political career, and he very publicly flirted with White House runs in the years ahead. In a dramatic moment in December of 1991, Cuomo kept an airplane waiting on the tarmac while he mulled whether to fly to New Hampshire to hand in his application to be on the primary ballot on the day it was due. A budget clash with Republicans in the state legislature kept him from leaving, and he announced that he wouldn’t run. Had he decided to run in 1992 it’s possible Bill Clinton would have never become president. “We have lost a true progressive giant with Governor Mario Cuomo’s passing today,” former New York Gov. David Paterson wrote on Twitter. Former New York Gov. George Pataki called Cuomo “a proud son of immigrants, possessed of a soaring intellect \[and\] a great New Yorker.” —_With reporting by Zeke Miller / Washington_ _Read next:_ [_Vice President Biden, Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio Honor Life of Fallen Officer_](http://time.com/3647737/joe-biden-andrew-cuomo-bill-de-blasio-rafael-ramos-nypd/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ### See Mario Cuomo's Life in Pictures  Mario Cuomo, Democratic candidate for Lt. Gov. of New York State, at City Hall in New York City on Aug. 30, 1974. Frank Russo—New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images  Mrs. Marie LaGuardia endorsed Mario Cuomo's candidacy for Mayor, presenting him with one of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia's famous hats for good luck, at Cuomo's Times Square headquarters in New York City on Oct. 25, 1977. Jack Manning—The New York Times/Redux  Governor-elect Mario Cuomo reads the morning papers with his wife, Matilda, at their home in the Queens borough of New York City on Nov. 3, 1982. Jim Wilson—The New York Times/Redux  Andrew Cuomo, right, with Mario Cuomo, during his father's first campaign for governor of New York, Sept. 24, 1982. William E. Sauro—The New York Times/Redux  Mario Coumo with his daughter Margaret before her marriage to Peter Perpignano on Oct. 10, 1982. Anthony Casale—New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images  Gov. Mario Cuomo puts on a vest as he leaves his office at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. on Jan. 20, 1983. Harry Hamburg—New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images  Marching down New York's Fifth Avenue during the Columbus Day Parade are (from left:) Congressman Mario Biaggi, New York City Mayor Edward Koch, Lt. Gov. Mario Cuomo and Westchester County Executive Alfred DelBello in New York City on Oct. 11, 1982. AP  Gov. Mario Cuomo, with some coaching by Mayor Ed Koch, left, throws out the first pitch at Shea Stadium, before a New York Mets game in New York City on April 5, 1983. Barton Silverman—The New York Times/Redux  New York Gov. Mario Cuomo gives a thumbs-up gesture with both hands during his keynote address to the opening session of the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco on July 17, 1984. AP  Mario Cuomo attends Hands Across America Benefit in Los Angeles on May 25, 1986. Ron Galella—WireImage/Getty Images  New York Governor Mario Cuomo points toward the camera as President Bill Clinton waves at the Cooper Union College in New York City on May 12, 1993. Greg Gibson—AP  New York Governor Mario Cuomo, right, converses with South African President Nelson Mandela at the Inter-Continental Hotel in New York City on Oct. 2, 1994. Malcolm Clarke—AP  New York Governor Mario Cuomo, left, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, center, and New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton laugh during a light moment while touring the NYPD's shooting range in New York City on June 23, 1994. Ed Bailey—AP  Mario Cuomo, the three-term Democratic governor of New York, in 1995. Fred R. Conrad—The New York Times/Redux  Mario Cuomo, former governor of New York, speaks to media outside of federal court in New York City on March 19, 2012. Scott Eells—Bloomberg/Getty Images  Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, accompanied by his wife Matilda Cuomo, serves as the Grand Marshal of the San Gennaro Grand Procession, kicking off the 87th annual San Gennaro Festival in the Little Italy section of New York City on Sept. 14, 2013. Angel Chevrestt—Zuma Press/Corbis  Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo embraces his father Mario after being reelected governor of New York, in New York City on Nov. 4, 2014. 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