American lawyer and politician, a member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 52nd Governor of New York for three terms (1983-1994), Lieutenant Governor of New York (1979 to 1982), and Secretary of State of New York (1975-1978).

The son of Italian immigrants from Naples, Andrea and Immaculata Cuomo, Mario was their fourth and last child. His father owned a grocery store where young Mario helped out at night. His father died in 1981. Mario was studious, reading late into the night in the back room of the store perched on milk crates. He was also an avid baseball fan. He studied law at St. John’s and was admitted to the New York bar. Cuomo impressed his classmates and teachers as a clever intellectual duelist. He tied for first in his graduating class and was chosen to serve as a legal assistant for a judge on the New York State Court of Appeals. His advocacy in neighborhood disputes impressed Mayor John Lindsay who enlisted his help with other large neighborhood disputes.
He rose through the Party machine of the majority Democrats in the problem-plagued metropolis of New York with skill and gifted oratory. Cuomo became Lieutenant Governor under Hugh Carey in 1978.
He ran successfully for Governor of New York in 1982 and attracted national attention with his soaring keynote address as Governor. On 31 December 1990, he took the oath for his third term.
After concluding the term, Cuomo spent his time writing. The children’s book, The Blue Spruce, was released in November 1999, a beautiful story that relates the life lesson of “never give up.”
He married Matilda Raffa during his first year of law school. They had five children, including current New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and anchor Chris Cuomo.
Mario Cuomo was hospitalized for a heart condition and received treatment in November 2014. He was described as being “in good spirits” at that time. Cuomo died at 5:15 PM on 1 January 2015 at his home in Manhattan, New York, of heart failure, five hours after his son Andrew was sworn into a second term as Governor of New York State.
Link to Wikipedia biography