Michelle R. Paige Paterson (born April 1, 1961 in

Fairfield, California Fairfield is a city in and the county seat of Solano County, California, in the North Bay sub-region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is generally considered the midpoint between the cities of San Francisco and Sacramento, approximately fro ...

) was the

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

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 * '' ...

state. Then-wife of

New York Governor 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 a ...

David Paterson David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to December 2010. A ...

, she became the First Lady of New York on March 17, 2008, when her husband was sworn in as governor, following the resignation of

Eliot Spitzer Eliot Laurence Spitzer (born June 10, 1959) is an American politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was the 54th governor of New York from 2007 until his resignation in 2008. Spitzer was b ...

. Paige Paterson was the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

First Lady in New York's history. Michelle Paige Paterson spent her early years in the Crown Heights neighborhood of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

in New York City before moving to

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

, another New York City borough where she was raised by her mother, a Postal Service manager. She attended

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

and earned a graduate degree in health-care management from

Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment is a graduate school at The New School within The Schools of Public Engagement that offers degrees in environmental policy and sustainability studies, nonprofit management, organizational c ...

. She married David Paterson on November 21, 1992; he was her second husband. They have a son together, born February 1994, named Alex. Paige Paterson has a daughter, Ashley, from her first marriage, who was raised by Paterson. Paige Paterson is director of the integrated-wellness program at the Health Insurance Plan of New York

HMO In the United States, a health maintenance organization (HMO) is a medical insurance group that provides health services for a fixed annual fee. It is an organization that provides or arranges managed care for health insurance, self-funded healt ...

, a program that assists individuals with chronic health problems to better manage their conditions by helping them to improve their life skills. She previously worked as a

lobbyist In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

for

North General Hospital North General Hospital (NGH) was an American private, not-for-profit, voluntary teaching hospital located in New York City in the East Harlem section of Manhattan at Marcus Garvey Park. It was founded in 1979 to replace, as tenant, the Hospital ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. On March 18, 2008, Paige Paterson and her husband both admitted to having had

affair An affair is a sexual relationship, romantic friendship, or passionate attachment in which at least one of its participants has a formal or informal commitment to a third person who may neither agree to such relationship nor even be aware of i ...

s with other people. Making these admissions was a strategy she supported in order to start David Paterson's governorship with full disclosure and to avoid "stoking the rumor mill".

References

External links

Biography on New York state's website
15 March 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Paige Paterson, Michelle 1961 births Living people African-American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople American lobbyists First Ladies and Gentlemen of New York (state) People from Crown Heights, Brooklyn People from Fairfield, California People from Staten Island Syracuse University alumni The New School alumni David Paterson 21st-century American businesswomen

Further reading

References

External links