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Joe Bruno, Colorful, Controversial Albany Powerhouse, Dies at 91

By RICHARD STEIER
Posted 10/9/20

Joseph L. Bruno, the longtime Majority Leader of the State Senate who played a key role in the passage of a Variable Supplements Fund bill for city correction officers, tangled with Gov. Eliot Spitzer and got the best of their battle, and was subsequently convicted of fraud charges in connection with illegal kickbacks but had the ruling overturned and was then acquitted during a second trial, died Oct. 6 at 91.

Mr. Bruno, who grew up in Glens Falls, after graduating from Skidmore College in nearby Saratoga Springs, served during the Korean War as an infantry Sergeant and won the light-heavyweight boxing title for the Army's 35th Regiment. He brought a fighter's pugnacity to his later work as a legislator, becoming known for his outspokenness while other major Albany players including Gov. George Pataki and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver—a sparring partner whose tenure in that job largely overlapped with hisdid business in more below-the-radar fashion.

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