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Herman Carl McCall (born October 17, 1935) is an American politician of the Democratic Party. A former
New York State Comptroller The New York state comptroller is an elected constitutional officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the New York state government's Department of Audit and Control. Sixty-one individuals have held the office of State Comptroller si ...
and New York State Senator, McCall was the Democratic nominee for
Governor of New York 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 ...
in 2002 IN, In or in may refer to: Dans * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Independen ...
. He was the first
African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
to be elected New York State Comptroller. He also served as chairman of the
State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...
Board of Trustees.


Early life and education

McCall was born in the Roxbury section of Boston, Massachusetts. He is the oldest of six children of Herman McCall and Caroleasa Ray. Herman McCall moved to Boston from Georgia and worked as a railroad porter; he abandoned the family when Carl was 11 years of age. Thereafter, the family was supported primarily by welfare and by relatives due to Carl's mother's infirmity.


Education

McCall graduated from Roxbury Memorial High School in Boston, where he was president of his class. He attended
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...
on private and
ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...
scholarships, graduating in 1958 with a bachelor's degree in government. McCall was also educated at the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
and received a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) Degree from Andover Newton Theological School.


Early career

During the 1960s, McCall worked as a high school teacher and a bank manager. He taught for six months at Jamaica Plain High School on Sumner Hill in Boston, and then joined the Army. He opened a church in the Dorchester neighborhood. By the late 1960s, McCall had moved to New York City. He was appointed by New York Mayor
John Lindsay John Vliet Lindsay (; November 24, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American politician and lawyer. During his political career, Lindsay was a U.S. congressman, the mayor of New York City, and a candidate for U.S. president. He was also a regu ...
to head the Commission Against Poverty.


Political career


State Senate

McCall was elected to three terms as a State Senator representing Harlem and the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He was a member of the
New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...
from 1975 to 1980, sitting in the 181st, 182nd and 183rd New York State Legislatures. He left the Senate to accept an appointment from President
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
as a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations with the rank of
Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...
. In 1982, McCall was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for
Lieutenant Governor of New York The lieutenant governor of New York is a Constitution of New York, constitutional office in the executive branch of the Government of the State of New York. It is the second highest-ranking official in state government. The lieutenant governo ...
. Governor
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 (United States), Democratic ...
then appointed McCall to serve as the state's Commissioner of Human Rights (1983–84). While in the private sector as a vice president for governmental relations with
Citicorp Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...
from 1985 to 1993, McCall accepted an appointment to the New York City Board of Education, where he was President of the Board from 1991 to 1993.


New York State Comptroller

In 1993, McCall was selected by the
New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the Bicameralism, two houses that act as the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York: the New York State Senate and the New York State Assem ...
to fill the unexpired term of Republican Edward Regan as state comptroller. McCall was elected to a full term as comptroller in
1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
(defeating Conservative Herbert London) and was re-elected in
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
(defeating Republican Bruce Blakeman). In 1998, he announced that he would not seek election to the U.S. Senate in 2000.


2002 campaign for Governor of New York

In 2002, McCall announced his campaign against Republican incumbent Governor
George Pataki George Elmer Pataki (; born June 24, 1945) is an American politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. He previously served in the State Legislature from 1985 to 1994, and as the mayor of Peekskill from 1981 to 1984 ...
. McCall was the favorite of the Democratic establishment, but he faced a tough challenge from
Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( , ; born December 6, 1957) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 until his resignation in 2021. A member of the Democratic Party and son of former governor Mario Cuomo, ...
which almost split the party. Cuomo proved to be a better fundraiser, and McCall's own campaign war chest was heavily depleted in the primary battle. Although McCall himself did not make any negative attacks, his close supporter, US Congressman Charles B. Rangel, stated that the McCall camp would not necessarily endorse Cuomo in the general election should the latter win. This backfired as some Italian-Americans interpreted that as racism, and many of Cuomo's supporters refused to unite behind McCall after McCall won the nomination. McCall was endorsed by Senator
Chuck Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from New York (state), New York, a seat he has held since 1999. ...
. While Senator
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
did not officially take sides during the primary, she loaned a staffer and a fundraiser to McCall's campaign and she marched by McCall's side at the West Indian American Day parade in New York City, as Clinton wanted to retain strong African-American support in case she made a presidential run in the future. Cuomo withdrew from the primary race after McCall moved to a double-digit lead in polls.


Letterhead controversy

In October 2002, McCall released 61 letters he had written on state letterhead to heads of companies in which the state pension fund owned large blocks of stock, asking them to review enclosed resumes of his relatives and other job-seekers. Some of the letters referred to the size of the state's ownership interest in the corporation targeted, which critics claimed amounted to a veiled threat to punish companies that didn't hire his relatives. A Quinnipiac poll released October 16 showed that two-thirds of likely voters were aware of the letters and of those more than a fifth were less likely to vote for McCall as a result. McCall defended the letters. Although he did issue a statement regretting the "appearance" and "impression" of the letters he wrote on government stationery, he maintained that he "never sought to leverage my public position nor mix my government role with my personal and professional relationship" in the letters. McCall's daughter, Marci, was hired by Verizon, which received such a letter, but was subsequently fired for using her company credit card to pay for substantial personal expenditures. Charges of larceny against her were dropped after some reimbursement to Verizon, and she was then hired as a marketer by McCall's running mate, Dennis Mehiel.


Results

McCall was defeated by Pataki in November 2002. McCall received 33% of the vote, a low percentage for a Democratic nominee for statewide office in a state where the Democratic Party is by far the dominant party based on voter registrations. Some observers felt that this seemingly poor showing was in part due to the revelation of the above-referenced letters; others insinuated that McCall's showing was related to racism, especially in upstate New York. However, others point out that Pataki was able to make crucial inroads into traditional areas of Democratic support, such as unions and even African-American congregations. The three-way vote-split efforts of
Tom Golisano Blase Thomas Golisano (born November 14, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder of Paychex, which offers payroll and human resources services to businesses. Golisano owned Greenlight Networks, a fiber ...
, who primarily ran against Pataki on his own third-party line, also diverted much of the anti-Pataki vote away from McCall. Other political commentators attribute McCall's defeat to the growing popularity of the Republican Party after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, along with Pataki's successful administration of the state.


Later career

McCall has served as a member of the Board of the
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
(1999–2003), as well as the Apollo Theater Foundation, Inc. and the Fiscal Control Board for
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
. He has also served on the board of directors of TYCO International, New Plan Realty, TAG Entertainment Corporation, Ariel Mutual Fund, and the New York State Public Higher Education Conference Board, respectively. In January 2007, McCall was appointed to a panel, along with former New York State Comptroller Ned Regan and former New York City Comptroller Harrison Jay Goldin, to interview and recommend up to five candidates to the State Legislature to replace Alan Hevesi, who resigned as state comptroller due to scandal. In May 2009, Convent Capital, the financial services firm run by McCall, was subpoenaed, along with other unregistered placement agents, by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office as part of an inquiry into possible corruption involved in deals brokered between investment firms and the state pension fund. McCall joined the
State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...
Board of Trustees on October 22, 2007. He was appointed to the Board by Governor Spitzer. McCall was appointed chairman on October 17, 2011, by Governor Cuomo. He announced his retirement in April 2019, effective at the end of June. He was succeeded as chair by vice chair Merryl Tisch.


Personal life

McCall's first marriage—to Cecilia McCall, the mother of his daughter Marcella (Marci)--ended in divorce. In 1983, McCall married his second wife, Joyce F. Brown; Brown is a former psychology professor, was a Deputy Mayor of New York City under Mayor David Dinkins, and is president of SUNY's
Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college under the State University of New York, in New York City. It focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It was founded in ...
in New York City. They have no children. McCall is a member of the
Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the ...
fraternity.


Awards

McCall is the recipient of nine honorary degrees. In 2003, he was awarded the
Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich "Rocky" Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was the 41st vice president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford. He was also the 49th governor of New York, serving from 1959 to 197 ...
Distinguished Public Service Award from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University of Albany. On February 14, 2020, the SUNY Plaza administrative building was renamed the H. Carl McCall SUNY Building in honor of McCall's "long standing contributions to SUNY and New York State."


References


Further reading

* Paterson, David. '' Black, Blind, & In Charge: A Story of Visionary Leadership and Overcoming Adversity.'' Skyhorse Publishing. New York, New York, 2020. *Walker, John C. ''The Harlem Fox: J. Raymond Jones and Tammany, 1920–1970'', New York: State University New York Press, 1989. * Dinkins, David N. ''A Mayor's Life: Governing New York's Gorgeous Mosaic'', New York, PublicAffairs Books, 2013. *


External links


Information on 2002 New York Gubernatorial Election
* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:McCall, Carl 1935 births African-American state legislators in New York (state) Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Dartmouth College alumni Living people New York state comptrollers Democratic Party New York (state) state senators Trustees of the State University of New York United Church of Christ ministers 2000 United States presidential electors People from Roxbury, Boston 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians Alpha Phi Alpha members 20th-century members of the New York State Legislature