Andrew Patrick O'Rourke (October 26, 1933 – January 3, 2013) was a

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

and politician from New York State. A Republican, he served as the County Executive of Westchester County, New York from 1982 to 1997. He was the Republican candidate for

Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...

in 1986. During the course of the campaign, he carried a prop—a cardboard cutout of then-incumbent Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo, which he used to humorous effect. Nevertheless, Cuomo was re-elected. After stepping down as county executive, O'Rourke was appointed as a judge of the New York Court of Claims. Thereafter he was elected as a justice of the New York State Supreme Court and served concurrently as both a justice of the Court of Claims and a justice of the Supreme Court. Subsequently, O'Rourke was on the bench in the Putnam County Supreme Court.

Early life and education

Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, O'Rourke grew up in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. His mother was a member of the Sioux Nation and his father was a doctor who died when O'Rourke, the youngest of five children, was just under two years old. He graduated from

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

and Fordham University School of Law, and obtained a Master of Laws (LL.M.) at New York University School of Law in 1965.

1986 New York State gubernatorial Republican ticket

* Governor: Andrew O'Rourke * Lieutenant governor: E. Michael Kavanagh * Comptroller: Edward Regan * Attorney general: Peter T. King * U.S. Senate:

Alfonse D'Amato Alfonse Marcello D'Amato (born August 1, 1937) is an American politician born in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. He served as United States Senator for New York between 1981 and 1999. He subsequently founded a lobbying firm, Park Strategies. ...

Author

O'Rourke was the author of two adventure novels: ''The Red Banner Mutiny'' (1985), about an uprising on a Soviet warship, and ''Hawkwood'' (1989), the story of a Vietnam war veteran who tries to escape his involvement with the Mafia.

Personal life

O'Rourke was married to Alice T. McKenna, with whom he had three children: Alice, Aileen, and Andrew Jr. They divorced in 1998 and she died in 2011. He married Flora Lowe, a nurse, in 1999, and they remained married until his death. He died at the age of 79 at Calvary Hospital in The Bronx due to complications of cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orourke, Andrew 1933 births 2013 deaths Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state) Fordham University School of Law alumni New York (state) Republicans New York Supreme Court Justices New York University School of Law alumni People from Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan Politicians from Plainfield, New Jersey People from Yonkers, New York People from Yorktown, New York Writers from New York (state) Westchester County, New York Executives 20th-century American judges