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

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

from New York State. A

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, he served as the

County Executive A county executive, county manager or county mayor is the head of the executive branch of government in a United States county. The executive may be an elected or an appointed position. When elected, the executive typically functions either as a ...

Westchester County, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...

from 1982 to 1997. He was the Republican candidate for Governor of New York in 1986. During the course of the campaign, he carried a prop—a cardboard cutout of then-incumbent Democratic Gov.

Mario Cuomo Mario Matthew Cuomo (, ; June 15, 1932 – January 1, 2015) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party, Cuomo previously served as ...

, 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 The New York State Court of Claims is the court of the New York State Unified Court System which handles all claims against the State of New York and certain state agencies. Judges Judges of the Court of Claims are appointed by the Governor of ...

. Thereafter he was elected as a justice of the

New York State Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

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 Plainfield is a city in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, known by its nickname as "The Queen City."

, O'Rourke grew up in the

Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the ea ...

neighborhood of

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 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. 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 and

Fordham University School of Law Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test t ...

, and obtained a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

(LL.M.) at

New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in N ...

in 1965.

1986 New York State gubernatorial Republican ticket

* Governor: Andrew O'Rourke * Lieutenant governor: E. Michael Kavanagh * Comptroller:

Edward Regan Edward Van Buren Regan (May 14, 1930 – October 18, 2014) was an American politician and public figure from New York State. He was a member of the Republican Party. Regan's political career began on the Buffalo Common Council. He rose to pr ...

* Attorney general:

Peter T. King Peter Thomas King (born April 5, 1944) is a former American politician who represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he represented a South Shore Long Island district that i ...

* U.S. Senate: Alfonse D'Amato

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 The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

due to complications of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

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