Tom Golisano
| Tom Golisano | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Blase Thomas Golisano November 14, 1941 Rochester, New York, U.S |
| Political party |
Independence (Before 2005) Republican (2005–present) |
| Spouse(s) | Monica Seles |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Alfred State College |
| Website | Official website |
Blase Thomas "Tom" Golisano (born November 14, 1941) is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder of Paychex, which offers payroll and human resources services to businesses, and former co-owner (along with real estate developer Larry Quinn) of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team and of the Buffalo Bandits lacrosse team. He sold the Sabres and its assets to multi-billionaire Terrence Pegula in February 2011. Golisano made a bid for the bankrupt Los Angeles Dodgers franchise in early 2012; but his group was eventually outbid by a consortium led by Magic Johnson and the Guggenheim Partners. In order to help keep the team in western NY, he also made a bid for the Buffalo Bills when that franchise came up for sale in 2014. Golisano has an associate's degree from Alfred State College.
He is a founding member of the Independence Party of New York and ran on its ticket for governor of New York in 1994, 1998 and 2002. Although he was never elected, his percentage of the vote increased with each election. He spent a combined $93 million on the three campaigns. By receiving more than 50,000 votes each time, Golisano brought the Independence Party an automatic ballot line for the succeeding four years. There was speculation that he would run for governor again on the Republican ticket, but it was announced, on May 15, 2009, that he was moving to Florida.
After New York's Republican governor, George Pataki announced he would not run again in the 2006 election, Republican officials attempted to recruit Golisano to run for the Republican nomination. He changed his party affiliation to Republican, with the Independence Party's chairman's blessing, in October 2005, apparently in preparation for another gubernatorial run. On February 1, 2006, however, Golisano announced that he would not run for the governorship.
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