NEW YORK (AP) Draped in a New York state flag, former three-term Governor Mario Cuomo's casket has been carried into a church where dignitaries from both sides of the political aisle are remembering his progressive legacy.
His family - including son Governor Andrew Cuomo - arrived at a Manhattan church in a hearse Tuesday.
Mourners include Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democratic New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, state Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos and Republican-turned-independent former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Democratic State Assembly Speaker put off taking his seat before the funeral started, standing outside in the snow to await the hearse.
Cuomo spoke out for the voiceless and powerless during three terms as governor.
The priest officiating at Mario Cuomo's funeral says the former New York governor wanted a simple funeral with "minimal fanfare.''
The Rev. George M. Witt said Tuesday that Cuomo was ``fundamentally a humble man and a man of great faith in God.''
Witt added that Cuomo was blessed with "a keen intellect, a humble spirit, a principled approach to life and a warm heart.''
The younger Cuomo, Andrew, spoke Tuesday at his father's funeral at a Manhattan church.
He describes his father as a leader whose politics were part-and-parcel of his beliefs, not strategies for pleasing people.
And he says that as an immigrant's son from Queens, his father - in his words - “was always an outsider. That's what gave him his edge.”
The 82-year-old Cuomo died Thursday, hours after Andrew Cuomo was inaugurated for a second term.