David A. Paterson

David Paterson became the first African-American governor of New York state on 17 March 2008. Formerly the state's lieutentant governor, Paterson took office when Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned after being implicated in a sex scandal. Paterson was born into a political family: His father, Basil Paterson, was once New York's secretary of state and a vice-chair of the national Democratic Party. David Paterson earned a history degree from Columbia University in 1977 and a law degree from Hofstra in 1982. He was elected to the state senate, representing Harlem's 29th District as a Democrat, in 1985. He kept a relatively low profile until 2002, when he was named Senate minority leader. He was elected lieutenant governor in 2006, the same year that fellow Democrat Eliot Spitzer was elected governor. He has been legally blind since an infection in infancy left him with no sight in his left eye and only partial vision in the right. Paterson also has served as an adjunct professor at Columbia University's School for International and Public Affairs.

Extra credit: Paterson is married to the former Michelle Paige. They "have a son, Alex, 13, and Mrs. Paterson has a daughter, Ashley, 19, from a previous marriage," according to a 2008 report in The New York Times... The Washington Times reported in 2008 that Paterson was becoming "the nation's third black governor since Reconstruction. L. Douglas Wilder served as Virginia's Democratic governor from 1990 to 1994, and Deval Patrick has been the Democratic governor of Massachusetts since January 2007"... Paterson ran the New York City Marathon in 1999.