Former state Sen. Roy Goodman dies at 84
CELESTE KATZ
Roy Goodman, the urbane state senator who represented the East Side for more than 30 years and was known as the epitome -- and perhaps last -- of New York's Rockefeller Republicans, died Tuesday of respiratory problems. He was 84.
The wry, patrician lawmaker, an heir to the Ex-Lax fortune, blended fiscal conservatism with social liberalism, including support for gay rights and abortion rights. During his legislative career, he sponsored more than 1,200 bills, and as a champion of the arts, he battled to preserve funding for theaters and museums.
While he always aspired to higher office, and ran for mayor in 1977, Goodman's brand of Republicanism began to wane.
After a final close-call re-election in 2000 which prompted him to jokingly dub himself "Landslide Goodman," he departed the Senate in 2002 when then-Gov. George Pataki and then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed him head
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/state-sen-roy-goodman-dies-84-blog-entry-1.1816966#ixzz33hWGXPwk