Anthony M. Masiello (born April 28, 1947) is an American politician and former basketball player who served as

Mayor of Buffalo, New York The following is a list of people who have served as mayors of the city of Buffalo in the U.S. state of New York. List of mayors Number of mayors by party affiliation History In 1853, the charter of the city was amended to include the town ...

from 1994 to 2005. Prior to being mayor, he served as a member of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

. He is currently president of Masiello, Martucci and Associates, a Buffalo-based lobbying firm.

Early life and education

A Buffalo native, Masiello is the oldest of seven children born to Bridget and Dan Masiello. Masiello graduated from

Canisius College Canisius College is a private Jesuit college in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1870 by Jesuits from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. Canisius offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, and around 34 master's ...

in 1969, where he played as a member of the Canisius Golden Griffins men's basketball team. He was then drafted by the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

in the

1969 NBA draft The 1969 NBA draft was the 23rd annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 7 and May 7, 1969, before the 1969–70 season. In this draft, fourteen NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college bas ...

, and played on the team during the 1969–1970 season.

Career

In 1971, Masiello began his career politics when he was elected as a district representative to the

Buffalo Common Council The Buffalo Common Council is the legislative branch of the city of Buffalo, New York government. It is a representative assembly, with one elected member from each of nine districts: Niagara, Delaware, Masten, Ellicott, Lovejoy, Fillmore, Nort ...

. He was subsequently elected to an at-large seat on the council and served as Democratic Majority leader in 1976. He also served as Chairman of the Council Finance Committee. Masiello was a member of the

from 1981 to 1993, sitting in the 184th, 185th, 186th, 187th, 188th, 189th and

190th New York State Legislature The 190th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 6, 1993, to December 31, 1994, during the eleventh and twelfth years of Mario Cuomo's governorship, in Albany. Back ...

s. Masiello's Senate district originally comprised mainly Buffalo and other parts of

Erie County, New York Erie County is a county along the shore of Lake Erie in western New York State. As of the 2020 census, the population was 954,236. The county seat is Buffalo, which makes up about 28% of the county's population. Both the county and Lake Erie w ...

. During the final year of his Senate service, his district encompassed part of Buffalo, as well as Grand Island,

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

and Tonawanda. In the State Senate, Masiello ascended to Minority Whip and served as Chair of the Democratic Conference. As a senator, Masiello served as the Ranking Minority Member of various committees, including the Child Care Committee and the Energy Committee.

Mayor of Buffalo

Masiello was sworn in as the 61st Mayor Buffalo on January 1, 1994. Masiello received 65% of the Democratic Primary vote and 67% of the General Election vote in 1993. He was re-elected to second term in 1997 and again to a third term in 2001 with the joint endorsement of the Democratic and Republican parties. As mayor, he focused on economic development, governmental restructuring, and education. He cut over 1,000 jobs from the city payroll by restructuring management and the police department. He successfully sought approval from the state to create a joint construction fund for the city schools, which has been used to renovate and build city schools. He unsuccessfully sought to take control of the Buffalo

Board of Education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

and install his own appointees. In 1997, Masiello's office, and under the direction of

Buffalo State College The State University of New York College at Buffalo (colloquially referred to as Buffalo State College, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo State, or simply Buff State) is a public college in Buffalo, New York. It is part of the State University of Ne ...

's Center for Applied Research in Interactive Technologies, launched CityNet, an advanced telecommunications network that links 14 educational and community sites in Buffalo.Fiber-optic network links 14 educational, community sites
''Buffalo News'', Buffalo, NY: Berkshire Hathaway, November 25, 1997, Brady, K., Retrieved February 6, 2014. In 2005, he announced that he would not run for re-election. He was succeeded by

Byron Brown Byron William Brown II (born September 24, 1958) is an American politician who is the current mayor of Buffalo, New York. He has served as Buffalo's 62nd mayor since January 2006, the City's first African-American mayor and longest serving ...

on December 31, 2005. Following his service as mayor, Masiello joined Masiello, Martucci and Associates as president.

Personal life

He is married to Kathleen Masiello (née McCue) of

Washingtonville, New York Washingtonville is a village in the town of Blooming Grove, Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 5,657 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie– Newburgh– Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area a ...

. Anthony has three daughters, Kimberly, Ariel, and Madeline Rose.

References

External links

Biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Masiello, Anthony 1947 births Living people Mayors of Buffalo, New York Democratic Party New York (state) state senators American politicians of Italian descent Canisius College alumni Canisius Golden Griffins men's basketball players American athlete-politicians Buffalo Common Council members American men's basketball players