Who

Pataki was the Republican governor of New York from 1995 through 2006.

Backstory

Pataki grew up on a vegetable farm in Peekskill, where he and his brother helped their parents work the fields and run the family's roadside stand. After attending Yale on an academic scholarship and then earning a law degree from Columbia in 1970, Pataki returned to his hometown and kicked off his political career in 1981 with a successful campaign for mayor. In 1985 he won election to the State Assembly, representing the 91st district; in 1992, he launched a successful bid for the State Senate. Just two years later, Pataki challenged incumbent Mario Cuomo for New York's governorship and stunned the Democrat in an upset. He was re-elected three times—despite his original campaign pledge to only serve two terms—but in 2006, Pataki declined to seek a fourth term. Political observers suggested that he was preparing a bid for president. He didn't bite, of course, instead joining up with law firm Chadbourne & Parke as counsel and later founding the consulting firm Pataki-Cahill with his former chief of staff John Cahill.

Of note

A bland, boring political leader—don't let the nickname "Whacky Pataki" fool ya—Pataki will be remembered for his relatively modest agenda as governor. He made a few tax cuts, reinstituted the death penalty as a purely symbolic gesture, authorized charter schools and, memorably, repeatedly failed to pass the state budget on time. Of course, the events of Sept. 11th and the rebuilding of Ground Zero also loom large in his official bio, and like Rudy Giuliani, Pataki has used the tragic events to boost his political cred. But few New Yorkers will soon forget his role in the holdup in rebuilding: After hustling to develop plans for the site in 2002 and pushing to hand the commission to Daniel Libeskind, the project ground to a halt as the state battled with developer Larry Silverstein over what should be built, and how.

Pataki's political future remains up in the air. Although he seriously flirted with the idea of running for the Republican presidential nomination, the emergence of candidates like Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson quickly directed the spotlight away from him. Of course, it was never clear whether a middle-of-the-road Republican like Pataki would ever be able to rally the party's base. And there was always the lingering issue of his personality. If you thought Al Gore came off as boring, then you've never had to sit through a speech by George Pataki.

Medical file

In February 2006, the 6'5" Pataki had to undergo an emergency appendectomy when his appendix burst. Following surgery, he developed a complication and had a second operation. In 2008, he had another round of abdominal surgery to relieve an intestinal blockage.

Personal

Pataki, whose name means "creeks" in Hungarian, married Elizabeth "Libby" Rowland in 1973. Pataki says they met two years earlier on Long Island, when they crashed into one another while bodysurfing. They have four children—Emily, Teddy, Allison, and Owen. The family lives in Peekskill, and also has a 300-plus acre farm in the village of Essex in the Adirondacks.

For the record

For his third campaign for governor in 2002, Pataki says he learned Spanish and is now conversationally fluent.