James Molinaro, b. March 11, 1931, is the current Borough President of Staten Island. He was born in the Lower East Side of Manhattan of Italian immigrants. He was one of six children, four brothers and two sisters. He is a widower since 1990 when his wife of 28 years, Carol, died of complications relating to scleroderma. The couple had two sons, Peter and Steven, and lived in the neighborhood of Fort Wadsworth since 1964.
Molinaro was elected against his Democratic opponent Councilman Jerome X. O'Donovan, with 50 percent of the vote to 43 percent on November 6, 2001. He was helped by the similarity of his last name to that of former Borough President Guy V. Molinari, and former Congresswomen Susan Molinari. He took office on January 1, 2002. Molinaro won re-election for a second and last term on November 8, 2005, with 45,979 votes (59 percent) to 32,617 (41 percent) for his Democratic challenger, John Luisi. His political career began when, in 1964, he joined the New York State Conservative Party. In 1974, he was elected as Chairman of the Richmond County Conservative Party and subsequently as Vice Chair of the State Party. In 1989, he was elected Executive Vice Chair of the New York State Conservative Party, a post he still holds today. Prior to becoming Borough President, Molinaro served for 12 years as Deputy Borough President to former Borough President Guy V. Molinari. He also served as Chief of Staff to Congressman Guy V. Molinari, representing New York's 14th Congressional District. Molinaro has had two Deputy Borough Presidents while in office. His first was Daniel M. Donovan, Jr., who left to become the Richmond County (Staten Island) District Attorney in January 2004 after winning election to that office the previous November. The Deputy post was left vacant until November 2006. After much speculation Molinaro named Ed Burke to the Deputy position. Ed Burke had been Executive Assistant to Guy V. Molinari for twelve years and to Molinaro for nearly five. Over a 20-year period, he has served on the Board of Directors for the Veterans Memorial Sports Complex, Staten Island Community Television, New York State Regional Organ Transplant and Bayley Seton Hospital. He was also the Chairman of the St. Elizabeth Ann's Health and Rehabilitation Center which he helped to create. In 1989, Molinaro also helped to establish Staten Island’s first AIDS day care center and AIDS medical care facility. Currently, Molinaro serves on the board of the Heart Institute of Staten Island, a modern cardiac care facility. He is also on the Board of Directors of the Sisters of Charity Health Care Corporation. In 1991, in the memory of his late wife, Mr. Molinaro helped dedicate a local dialysis unit in her name. In 2000 St. Elizabeth Ann's Health and rehabilitation Center opened the James P. and Carol E. Molinaro Health Care and Rehabilitation Center Atrium.
BP Molinaro Urges Staten Islanders to Give the “Gift of Life”
Blood Drive at Borough Hall
In response to a critically low blood supply following February’s snowstorms, Borough President James P. Molinaro urged Staten Islanders to roll up their sleeves and give the “gift of life” at a blood drive at Borough Hall. Since Molinaro took office in 2003, his blood drives have collected a total of 6,750 pints. Each year, the Borough President’s Office sponsors five blood drives, in addition to the annual 9/11 Memorial Blood Donor Drive in September, which seeks to collect 275 pints for each Staten Island victim of the terrorist attack. Molinaro said, “Health care is an issue of paramount importance to my administration, to my family, and to me. As Borough President, I am in a unique position to help get the message out that by giving blood, the life you save may be that of your neighbor, your friend, your relative, or even your own.”