Il cordoglio del Calandra Institute

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Cari Amici, It is with sadness that we begin 2015! Yesterday evening, we lost Mario Cuomo. To call him America’s liberal lion is a understatement. In his desire to defend individual rights through his public service, he knew that his own Cari Amici, It is with sadness that we begin 2015! Yesterday evening, we lost Mario Cuomo. To call him America’s liberal lion is a understatement. In his desire to defend individual rights through his public service, he knew that his own individual beliefs could not always prevail. He believed in a government that “has an obligation to assist those who for whatever inscrutable reason have been left out by fate – the homeless, the infirmed, the destitute – to help provide those necessary things, which through no fault of their own they cannot provide for themselves,” as he stated in his 1983 inaugural speech. Earlier today, I posted some personal reflections on i-Italy.org. Of the numerous occasions I spent with Mario Cuomo, there was the 30-year celebration of The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, back in 2009. At that event, we inaugurated the The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute Distinguished Service Award; Mario Cuomo was one of three recipients present. You can see his remarks at the _Italics_link. There will be those who will discuss his philosophical and political legacy within the near future. We shall surely be among them. But for now, let us remember his contributions to making both New York, and the United States as well, a better place to live. We at the Calandra Institute express our deepest sympathies and hold in our thoughts his family, Matilda, Margaret, Andrew, Madeline, Maria, and Chris. Con le più sentite condoglianze, Anthony Julian Tamburri, Ph.D. Professor and Dean John D. Calandra Italian American Institute Queens College, CUNY 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor New York, NY 10036 212-642-2094 – calandra@qc.edu – www.qc.edu/calandra