Ralph J. Marino, died on Saturday, April 6, 2002 at the age of 74, at Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre after a gallant fight against tongue cancer.

Senator Marino who was known to everyone as a gentleman held the powerful position of New York State Republican Majority Leader for six years during the late 1980s. When Governor George Pataki came to power, he lost that title to Republican Joseph Bruno. After winning his last election of 13 Senate terms in 1994, he stepped down and Carl Marcellino was elected to replace him.

Senator Marcellino said, "I am deeply saddened by the passing of one of New York State's greatest leaders, and my personal friend and advisor. Ralph was a true North Shore gentleman who has represented Long Island with tremendous skill, determination and dignity. He was a humanitarian who practiced politics with a skillful sense of fair-mindedness that is rarely seen.

"As a senator, he distinguished himself as a leader, he led in some landmark legislation that affects people throughout this entire state. The work that he has done serves as a great legacy. I will miss a man I considered to be a good friend and a prototype of what a senator should be all about. My sympathy and prayers go out to his family."

Senator Marcellino was instrumental in having the Oyster Bay-Seaford Expressway renamed the Ralph Marino Expressway in honor of the senator. Friends knew at the time, March 15, that he was not well, but he rallied that day as more then 30 elected officials attended to honor him.

Born on Jan. 2, 1928 in Rochester, after serving in the Army in 1946 and 1947, he attended Syracuse University, where he met his future wife, Ethel Bernstein. He received a BA in 1951 and his JD from Fordham University in 1954. A highlight of his career was when Ralph J. Marino was first elected temporary president and majority leader of the NYS Senate in January 1989, having previously served as senator of the 5th Senate District for two decades. Prior to his election he was an elected member and majority leader of the Oyster Bay Town Board and earlier as attorney, clerk and elected member of the Oyster Bay-East Norwich School Board.

In 1969 he was named chairman of the Senate Committee on Villages and from 1970 was chairman of the Committee on Towns and Villages, where his pursuit of reform legislation to halt real estate swindles won him the chairmanship of a special Temporary State Commission on Tax Liens and Mortgage Frauds.

From 1973-1984, he served as chairman of two key Senate Committees, Crime and Correction and the investigative Select Committee on Crime. In 1985, Senator Marino was named chairman of the Senate Committee on Banks.

Over the years Senator Marino became a leading spokesman on penal matters. During his tenure, he sponsored the greatest body of laws furthering correctional reforms in the state's history. He also spearheaded laws dealing with illicit drugs, violent juveniles, illegal toxic waste operations, child pornography and crime victims, including the comprehensive Crime Victims Fair Treatment Act of 1984, and the Organized Crime Control Act of 1986. Senator Marino translated a commitment to honesty in government into the State's historic Freedom of Information Law.

Senator Marino was a past president of the New York State Conference of Italian-American Legislators and a past Task Force member of the National Conference of State Legislators.

Senator Marino has received many awards over the years including the Association of Emotionally Disturbed Children's Special Humanitarian Award, Kiwanis Key Club Service Award, American Heart Association's Distinguished Leadership Award, Good Deed Award from the Suffolk County Council of Boy Scouts of America, Oyster Bay Jewish Center Man of the Year Award, NY Association of School Psychologists Legislative and Governmental Action Award for Exemplary Service to Children. In the criminal justice field, he has been accorded "Legislator of the Year" awards by both the New York State Parole Officers Association and the Nassau County Municipal Police Chiefs Association, C.W. Post College Department of Criminal Justice Distinguished Service Award, American Academy for Professional Law, Enforcement Annual Award, U.S. Federal Law Enforcement Officers Annual Award and the New York State Bar Association Award for Outstanding Work in Criminal Legislation.

Thelma Johnson, Mr. Marino's executive assistant worked with the senator for 27 years, first in his law office in Oyster Bay and then when he became a Town of Oyster Bay councilman and town board majority leader in 1989. From there he moved on to become a New York State Senator in 1968 and then majority leader of the senate. He was the first Long Island Republican to hold that position and the area benefited as a result. "He was a leader and a gentleman as well as a gentle man. He was kind in the way he dealt with people and his problems and he was loved by many. I admired him very much," she said.

"He was a powerful man but never used his power for his own benefit, but used it to help others," she said.

She remembered among his work, sponsoring the Freedom of Information Law of 1974 and the Open Meetings Law of 1976. Both have helped open up the processes of government.

The senator was strongly involved in helping the Boys & Girls Club of Oyster Bay-East Norwich, from facilitating the move of a building from the town hall parking lot to the present site of the clubhouse. He helped secure the land for the club when it became available from the state. It had been a key parcel taken by the state to be used for the proposed Bayville Rye Bridge, which he was instrumental in stopping.

Eve Bernstein, Mr. Marino's sister-in-law said, "He was a very kind and caring person to constituents, to family and to local friends. At the synagogue we were talking about Ralph and one of the people said, 'I teach in Bensonhurst and the people loved him. He gave them a lot of money when he was in the Senate.'"

Ralph Marino was a past president of the Oyster Bay Chamber of Commerce, the group that for many years operated almost as a civic organization for the hamlet. Current chamber President Karen DeVine-Minicozzi, owner operator of the DeVine Funeral Home, Inc., said of the senator, "He was always very approachable and available and always a gentleman. He was always supportive of Oyster Bay and the businesses here."

Marie Knight, president of the Oyster Bay Civic Association, worked with the senator before he actually became involved in politics, when she was first working against the bridge to Rye, proposed by master builder Robert Moses. "To me he wasn't a politician he was a statesman. He was the kind of person you could trust with everyone. He was a dear friend.

"He was always available to everyone, his door was always open and he listened and whatever he said he would do, he did. He kept his word and he was always a gentlemen. He was an exceptional individual and I can say after him the mold was broken. I don't think there are any that can fill his shoes. He listened to the people and tried to do everything he could for them."

He gave her an official gavel when she became president of the Oyster Bay Civic Association.

She said after he left the senate, he returned to his law practice at Marino, Bernstein & LaMarca in Oyster Bay. "It took him a while to become re-acclimated to the law, but when he did, he enjoyed it tremendously. I asked how it was, and he said he didn't think he would enjoy it as much as he did," said Ms. Knight. He became a lobbyist for the beer and soda industries.

"Personally I lost a good friend, he was always there for me. He was special. He had an aura about him that was absolutely unique," said Ms. Knight.

A memorial Mass was held on Tuesday, April 9 at 11 a.m. at St. Dominic's Church. A private viewing preceded the funeral and the burial at Locust Valley Cemetery was also private. His partner Jacob Bernstein was scheduled to give a eulogy, as was Mike Russell, a longtime friend of the senator who served as his personal assistant in the senate.

The senator is survived by his wife Ethel Bernstein Marino, a daughter, Judith Marino of Oyster Bay; two sons, James, of Chicago and Robert of Armonk; his mother Catherine of Rochester; three sisters, Mildred LoVecchio, Gloria Camuso and Santa Pullano, all of Rochester and three grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations be sent to the Boys & Girls Club of Oyster Bay-East Norwich, 1 Pine Hollow Rd., Oyster Bay, NY 11771, or Cancer Care of Long Island, 20 Crossways Park, North Woodbury, NY 11797.