Mario Cuomo died at the age of 82. Photo: David Berkowitz via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Mario Cuomo, a former three-term Democratic governor of New York who Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called a strong supporter of Israel, died on Thursday at age 82.

Cuomo, the father of current New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, held the gubernatorial office from 1983-1994 and visited Israel during his first year in the role.

“I remember how strongly, firmly and clearly Gov. Cuomo, Mario Cuomo, stood with Israel at the time,” Netanyahu said last summer when Andrew Cuomo visited Israel on a solidarity mission, according to The Jewish Press.