James P. Molinaro (born March 11, 1931) is an American politician who is a former Borough President of Staten Island. Molinaro first won election as borough president of Staten Island on November 6, 2001, defeating his Democratic opponent Councilman Jerome X. O'Donovan, with 50 percent of the vote to 43 percent. He took office on January 1, 2002. Molinaro won re-election for a third and last term on November 3, 2009, with 46,061 votes (62.7%) compared to 27,356 (37.3%) votes for his challenger John Luisi, who had also challenged him in 2005. Personal life Molinaro was born in the Lower East Side of Manhattan to Italian immigrants. He has three brothers and two sisters and has lived in the Staten Island neighborhood of Fort Wadsworth since 1964. He is a widower since 1990 when his wife of 28 years, Carol, died of complications relating to scleroderma. The couple had two sons, Peter and Steven. Career His political career began in 1964, when he joined the New York State Conservative Party. In 1976 he was elected as Chairman of the Richmond County Conservative Party and subsequently as Vice Chair of the State Party. In 1989, he was elected Executive Vice Chair of the New York State Conservative Party, a post he still holds today. Molinaro served for 12 years as deputy borough president to former Borough President Guy V. Molinari. He also served as chief of staff to Molinari when the latter was a congressman representing New York's 14th Congressional District. Molinaro has had two deputy borough presidents while in office. His first was Daniel M. Donovan, Jr., who left to become the Richmond County District Attorney in January 2004 after winning election to that office the previous November. The deputy post was left vacant until November 2006. After much speculation Molinaro named Ed Burke to the deputy position. Ed Burke had been executive assistant to Guy V. Molinari for twelve years and to Molinaro for nearly five. Over a 20-year period, he has served on the board of directors for the Veterans Memorial Sports Complex, Staten Island Community Television, New York State Regional Organ Transplant and Bayley Seton Hospital. He was also the chairman of the St. Elizabeth Ann's Health and Rehabilitation Center which he helped to create. In 1989, Molinaro also helped to establish Staten Island’s first AIDS day care center and AIDS medical care facility. Currently, Molinaro serves