Francesco Joseph (Frank J.) Barbaro (December 18, 1927 – September 4, 2016) was an American politician who served in the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

from the 47th district (

Bensonhurst Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...

) from 1973 to 1996.

Early years

A son of immigrants, after high school he served in the navy before college (NYU, Brooklyn Law School). Prior to running for office he was a

longshoreman A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number o ...

Elected positions

He "won election as a legislator 12 times" and tried but "lost elections for Brooklyn borough president, mayor and Congress." In 1981 Barbaro was "

Edward I. Koch Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, film critic, and television personality. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was mayo ...

's chief challenger for re-election to a second term as mayor of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

." Barbaro's 2004 attempted run for congress "made the general election for the 13th Congressional District uncharacteristically feisty and competitive." An example of Barbaro working as a legislator with others involved reclaiming a Bensonhurst public school that was transferred to the Transit Authority in 1981 due to it being underutilized. By 1992, with population growth, it was needed, yet in 1998 it still had not been given back.

Judge

Barbaro also "served for six years as a State Supreme Court justice." One of his decisions bothered him, years later, and he tried, unsuccessfully, to reverse the damage he perceived was his fault. He died of heart failure on September 4, 2016, in

Watervliet, New York Watervliet ( or ) is a City (New York), city in Albany County, New York, Albany County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The population was 10,375 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Watervliet is north of Albany, ...

at age 88.

Family

Barbaro ("BAR-ba-roe"NYTimes) was survived by his wife Mary, three daughters, four grandchildren, and a sister.

References

1927 births 2016 deaths Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly Brooklyn Law School alumni New York University alumni 20th-century American politicians Candidates in the 1981 United States elections {{NewYork-NYAssembly-stub