American lawyer and three-time Congresswoman from Queens, New York, in 1984 a candidate for an office never before held by a woman, that of democratic Vice-President. An attractive politico and competent campaigner, she has a rapid-fire delivery and is tough and spontaneous. She earned the respect of her colleagues in the House of Representatives, learning the rules of the game and working her way up the committee ladder.
Ferraro’s father, Dominick, was an Italian immigrant who owned a dime store and restaurant in Newburgh, NY. Her mother, Antonetta, was a housewife. Geraldine was named after a brother, Gerald, who had been killed in an auto accident in 1933. She has an older brother, Carl. When she was eight years old, her dad died of a heart attack and the family moved to the Bronx, then shortly after, to Queens. Antonetta eked out a living crocheting beads on wedding dresses and evening gowns. Geraldine was boarded with the sisters at Marymount School in Tarrytown, NY, where she considered becoming a nun. She skipped two grades and graduated high school at 16, earning a scholarship to Marymount Manhattan College. She also took teacher-education courses at Hunter College and studied law at night in Fordham. She passed her New York State bar exam and married the same week. Keeping her family name, she split her first law fee with her mother. Her mother died in 1989.
Balancing raising a family and practicing law, in 1974 she got a prosecutor’s job heading a special bureau for victims of violent crimes. Her experiences in that job made her a strong law-and-order advocate. When the Ninth Congressional District was up for election, she jumped in and waged a tough campaign, winning by 54% of the vote. Known as the representative from Archie Bunker’s district, her supporters retorted, “it was the Edith Bunkers who elected her.”
By 1983, NY Mayor Koch was publicly speaking of the possibility of Geraldine Ferraro as Democratic Vice President candidate in 1984. The call came from Walter Mondale, Democratic Presidential candidate on July 11 and Ferraro made history as the first woman vice-presidential candidate, the first woman in history to get near the highest elected office of the land. The following months, disclosure of her husband’s business loans made headlines and harmed the campaign. She published her autobiography, “Ferraro, My Story,” 1985 stating that she did not have knowledge of his business affairs. Ferraro was unsuccessful in later attempts for a U.S. Senate seat and in 1992, became a co-host for CNN’s “Crossfire.”
Married to John Zaccaro since 1960, she has three children: Donna, John Jr. and Laura. In 1986, family problems struck her husband and son. John Zaccaro Jr. was arrested 2/20/1986 for selling cocaine to a police officer. He served time in prison along with drug rehab, and later went back to school to get a law degree. Ferraro’s husband pleaded guilty in 1985 to a misdemeanor for falsifying documents and was cleared of extortion charges October1987.
Ferraro announced 9/15/1998, after losing her bid for the U.S. Senate, that she would not seek another elective office. In October 1998, she released a new book, “Framing a Life: A Family Memoir,” which is a hodgepodge of musings.
On 6/19/2001, she revealed to the NY Times that she has been suffering from a potentially fatal blood cancer that erodes the bones, diagnosed in December 1998, meeting the daunting challenge with her usual strength of character. She is taking an innovative drug treatment and daily exercise; though without pain, she finds her energy depleted.
After a 10-year battle with multiple myeloma, she died of complications from the disease in Boston, MA on March 26, 2011.
Link to Wikipedia biography