37 Facts About Carl McCall

1.

Herman Carl McCall was born on October 17,1935 and is an American politician of the Democratic Party.

2.

Carl McCall was the first African-American to be elected New York State Comptroller.

3.

Carl McCall is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, and he currently serves on the board of directors of several corporations.

4.

From October 17,2011 until his retirement on June 30,2019, Carl McCall served as chairman of the State University of New York Board of Trustees.

5.

Carl McCall was born in the Roxbury section of Boston, Massachusetts.

6.

Carl McCall is the oldest of six children of Herman McCall and Caroleasa Ray.

7.

Herman McCall moved to Boston from Georgia and worked as a railroad porter; he abandoned the family when Carl was 11 years of age.

8.

Carl McCall graduated from Roxbury Memorial High School in Boston, where he was president of his class.

9.

Carl McCall attended Dartmouth College on private and ROTC scholarships, graduating in 1958 with a Bachelor's degree in government.

10.

Carl McCall taught for six months at Jamaica Plain High School on Sumner Hill in Boston, and then joined the Army.

11.

Carl McCall was a member of the New York State Senate from 1975 to 1980, sitting in the 181st, 182nd and 183rd New York State Legislatures.

12.

Carl McCall left the Senate to accept an appointment from President Jimmy Carter as a member of the US delegation to the United Nations with the rank of Ambassador.

13.

In 1982, Carl McCall was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor of New York.

14.

Governor Mario Cuomo then appointed Carl McCall to serve as the state's Commissioner of Human Rights.

15.

In 1993, Carl McCall was selected by the New York State Legislature to fill the unexpired term of Republican Edward Regan as state comptroller.

16.

Carl McCall was elected to a full term as comptroller in 1994 and was re-elected in 1998.

17.

Al Sharpton was quoted as saying that "if David Dinkins has a cold in the black community, Carl McCall has pneumonia", and it has been said that McCall was a "stiff, bourgeois figure" who generally did not excite the black electorate.

18.

In 2002, Carl McCall officially announced his campaign against Republican incumbent George Pataki.

19.

Carl McCall remains New York state's highest-ranking black elected official and first black major party gubernatorial candidate.

20.

Carl McCall was the favorite of the Democratic establishment, but he faced a tough challenge from Cuomo which almost split the party.

21.

Cuomo withdrew from the primary race after Carl McCall moved to a double-digit lead in polls.

22.

Limbaugh said the refusal to give the Carl McCall campaign money was a show of racism on the part of the DNC.

23.

In October 2002, Carl McCall released 61 letters he had written on state letterhead to heads of companies in which the state pension fund owned large blocks of stock, asking them to review enclosed resumes of his relatives and other job-seekers.

24.

Charges of larceny against her were dropped after some reimbursement to Verizon, and she was then hired as a marketer by Carl McCall's running mate, Dennis Mehiel.

25.

Carl McCall was defeated in the election for governor by the Republican incumbent, George Pataki.

26.

Some observers felt that this seemingly poor showing was in part due to the revelation of the above-referenced letters; others insinuated that Carl McCall's showing was related to racism, especially in upstate New York.

27.

Carl McCall was a recent member of the Board of the New York Stock Exchange, as well as the Apollo Theater Foundation, Inc Currently, he is a member of the Fiscal Control Board for Buffalo, New York as well as the SUNY Board of Trustees.

28.

Carl McCall serves on the Boards of Directors for TYCO International, New Plan Realty, TAG Entertainment Corporation, Ariel Mutual Fund, and as Chair of the New York State Public Higher Education Conference Board.

29.

Carl McCall spoke at his alma mater Dartmouth College's annual Martin Luther King Jr.

30.

Carl McCall operates his own financial services fund called Convent Capital, LLC.

31.

In January 2007, Carl McCall was appointed to a panel, along with former New York State Comptroller Ned Regan and former New York City Comptroller Harrison Jay Goldin, to interview and recommend up to five candidates to the State Legislature to replace Alan Hevesi, who resigned as state comptroller due to scandal.

32.

In May 2009, Convent Capital, the financial services firm run by Carl McCall, was subpoenaed, along with other unregistered placement agents, by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office as part of an inquiry into possible corruption involved in deals brokered between investment firms and the state pension fund.

33.

Carl McCall joined the State University of New York Board of Trustees on October 22,2007, and was appointed chairman on October 17,2011.

34.

Carl McCall announced his retirement in April 2019, effective at the end of June.

35.

Carl McCall was succeeded as chair by vice chair Merryl Tisch.

36.

In 1983, McCall married his second wife, Joyce F Brown; Brown is a former psychology professor, was a Deputy Mayor of New York City under Mayor David Dinkins, and is president of SUNY's Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.

37.

Carl McCall is a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.