Mario Cuomo, three-term governor of New York and near-presidential candidate, died Thursday at his home in Manhattan. He was 82.

Cuomo, whose son Andrew Cuomo was inaugurated for his second term earlier in the day, served as governor from 1983 to 1994, when he was defeated by Republican George Pataki.

Thanks in part to his famous "Tale of Two Cities" speech, which was the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 1984, Cuomo was a nationally prominent figure who flirted with presidential runs for the 1988 and 1992 elections—famously bailing five minutes before the filing deadline in 1991.

While his public indecisiveness over campaigning for president earned him the nickname "Hamlet on the Hudson" he will likely always been remembered for the speech that put him on the national stage.

"Mr. President, you ought to know that this nation is more a tale of two cities than it is just a shining city on a hill," Cuomo—a master orator—said in his rebuke to President Reagan. "Maybe, Mr. President, if you visited some more places; maybe if you went to Appalachia where some people still live in sheds"

At his inauguration today, Andrew Cuomo paid tribute to his father.

"We're missing one family member. My father is not with us today. We had hoped that he was going to be able to come; he is at home and he is not well enough to come. We spent last night with him, changed the tradition a little bit. We weren't in Albany last night; we stayed at my father's house to ring in the New Year with him. I went through the speech with him. He said it was good, especially for a second-termer. See, my father is a third-termer. But he sends his regards to all of you. He couldn't be here physically today, my father. But my father is in this room. He is in the heart and mind of every person who is here. He is here and he is here, and his inspiration and his legacy and his experience is what has brought this state to this point. So let's give him a round of applause."

Cuomo is survived by his wife, Matilda, his children Chris Cuomo, Dr. Margaret I. Cuomo, Maria Cuomo Cole, and Madeline Cuomo O'Donohue, and several grandchildren.

In a long obituary at the New York Times, Cuomo is given his own last word:

He was always attuned to how he was perceived by the public, and when invited to sum up his own life for this obituary, he characteristically turned to self-deprecating humor.

"People asked me what I want as an epitaph," Mr. Cuomo volunteered. He proceeded to reprise a line he had used many years earlier while traveling across upstate New York, a fresh public figure displaying astonishing talent and obvious potential.

"He tried," Mr. Cuomo said.

[Image via AP]