Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo passed away at his home in Manhattan Thursday, just hours after his son Andrew was sworn is for his second term as the state's chief executive. He was 82 and had been suffering from poor health in recent months.
During his 12 years as governor — a tenure longer than any of his predecessors except for Nelson Rockefeller — Cuomo grew into a major star of the national Democratic Party. He openly toyed with running for president in both 1988 and 1992, but ultimately stayed on the sidelines for both campaigns.
Arguably, Cuomo's most famous moment in politics occurred in 1984, when he gave a stirring keynote address at the Democratic National Convention that catapulted him into the top tier of America's political left. --Mike Barry