Heavyweights from across the political spectrum remembered former Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo on Tuesday night as a man of fierce integrity who never strayed from his liberal beliefs.
President Obama, who telephoned Cuomo’s son, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, offering condolences, praised the late governor for his “unflinching voice for tolerance, inclusiveness, fairness, dignity and opportunity.”
“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.”
Mayor de Blasio lamented that “New York has lost a giant.”
“Mario Cuomo was a man of unwavering principle who possessed a compassion for humankind without equal,” de Blasio said.
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Cuomo “never swayed with the political winds — whether on the death penalty or any other issue — and he earned a spot alongside Theodore Roosevelt, Charles Evans Hughes, Al Smith, and Franklin Roosevelt in the pantheon of New York’s great progressive governors.”
George Pataki, the Republican who denied Cuomo a chance at a fourth term, defeating him in the 1994 election, praised his one-time foe as “a great New Yorker” and a “compassionate leader who possessed a soaring intellect.”
Another Republican, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, who lost a bitter governor’s race to Andrew Cuomo in November, called the elder Cuomo “a man of integrity” who had “immense talent.”
The head of the national Democratic party, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), said “few matched Governor Cuomo’s eloquence when encouraging the American people to strive for a society that seeks equality of opportunity for all. “
Noting that he died the day his son was inaugurated to a second term, Wasserman Schultz said that “in this time of loss, there is a measure of comfort in knowing that Mario Cuomo’s legacy and his vision for America lives on in his son and throughout the Democratic Party.”
And David Axelrod, a former aide to Obama, said he was in the arena when Cuomo gave his famous speech at the 1984 Democratic convention in San Francisco. He called Cuomo “a brilliant, passionate, gutsy leader, who knew why he was in public life.” he tweeted.
Television icons like Larry King and Katie Couric also mourned Cuomo’s passing. Noting that Cuomo was his first guest on his old CNN show, King tweeted that Cuomo was “one of the brightest men ever. His was a great American life!”
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