Guy Molinari

Guy Victor Molinari (born 1928) is a former United States Representative and borough president of Staten Island, New York.

Education and Military Service

Born in Mahnattan on November 23, 1928, Molinari is the son of S. Robert Molinari (1897 - 1957), a politician who represented the 2nd District of Richmond County in the New York State Assembly from 1943 to 1944. He attended private schools growing up and graduated from New Dorp High School in Staten Island in 1945. He attained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wagner College in Staten Island in 1949 and his law degree from New York Law School in 1951. He served in the United States Marine Corps (attaining the rank of Sergeant), from 1951 to 1953 during the Korean War. He was admitted to the New York State Bar following his discharge from the military in 1953 and commenced practice in Staten Island.

Political career

He became a Republican member of the New York State Assembly in 1975, serving until 1980. He was a delegate to the New York State Republican conventions in 1979 and the Republican National Convention in both 1980 and 1984. In 1980, he was elected to the House of Representative, unseating nine-term Democrat John M. Murphy. In 1982, his district was merged with that of four-term Democrat Leo Zefferetti, and he won with 57%. He was reelected to the three succeeding Congresses with minimal opposition and served from January 3, 1981, until his resignation December 31, 1989, to become Borough President of Staten Island. He was succeeded in the House by his daughter, Susan Molinari, who had also served on the New York City Council. He served as Borough President from January 1, 1990 to December 31, 2001.

While in Congress, he was the only member of the New York delegation to vote against the Martin Luther King holiday. In 1994, he held a press conference to announce that Karen Burstein was unfit to be New York State Attorney General because she was a lesbian. In 1995, he ran unsuccessfully for Richmond County District Attorney and lost by a wide margin.

He is still a resident of Staten Island.

Family and personal

Guy Molinari is the father of Susan Molinari, who succeeded him as a member of Congress. While they are both fiscally conservative, she is more socially liberal than her father; he is staunchly pro-life, while she favors abortion rights, and she joined with more moderate Republicans in forming the Republican Unity Coalition, which opposed a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution banning gay marriage. Susan Molinari is married to Bill Paxon, a former Member of Congress from Buffalo.

Guy Molinari is a Brother of the Kappa Sigma Alpha fraternity at Wagner College. The fraternity is Wagner's oldest active organization, dating back to 1931

ee also

References

[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000842 Congressional Biographical Directory]