Nathan Lebron

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  Nathan Lebron on ATV After Dark with Joe Bonilla, October 22, 2009

Nathan Lebron (born February 20, 1971) is the first Hispanic to run for Mayor in the City of Albany and is one of the few Hispanics to have run in a mayoral general election in New York State.^[1]

Early life

Lebron was born in Harlem, New York. As a toddler he and his two younger sisters were taken to San Sebastián, Puerto Rico to be raised by their maternal grandmother. He attended La Minima Oronoz elementary school in San Sebastián.

At the age of ten he returned to New York City with an uncle to be reunited with his mother. Two years later his mother suffered a severe stroke and was hospitalized. Lebron and his younger half-siblings were sent to live with a family in the South Bronx where they were mistreated. Shortly thereafter he was diagnosed with cancer. He spent more than one year recuperating from spinal surgery to remove the baseball-sized tumor that had grown adjacent to his spinal cord.

By the time Lebron was released from the hospital his mother was still hospitalized and his father had died from kidney failure. Lebron was placed at St. Dominic's Home in the South Bronx, NY.^[2] His mother eventually would be released from the hospital only to end up living in a shelter. Although the cancer left Lebron permanently disabled, he worked two part-time jobs after school. He thrived in this supportive environment and completed high school with honors.

Education

• Harry S. Truman High School (New York City) - Diploma, 1989
• University at Albany, SUNY - Bachelor of Arts, Computer Science, 1997
• Harvard University - Master of Liberal Arts, Information Technology, 2006

Career

Lebron pursued a career in Information Technology working at many Capital Region firms during the 1990s. For five years he commuted to Cooperstown, New York, where he worked as the Director of Information Services at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He has also worked for Garnet River and the New York State Liquor Authority. At the present time he is an independent Information Technology Consultant.

Politics

In spring 2009, Lebron was approached by the City of Albany Republican Committee to run for Mayor of Albany in the 2009 election. He accepted and announced his candidacy in May 2009.^[3][4]

In the general election, Lebron received 7% of the vote while Corey Ellis of the Working Family Party received 30% and Jerry Jennings on the Democratic Party received 63% of the vote.^[5]

Lebron relocated to Colonie after his run and remains active in politics. He sought the Republican nomination for Albany County executive, but the party instead opted not to run a candidate. He expressed interest in returning to Albany to run again for the same seat in 2013 (he never did so). As of 2014, he has associated himself with the Libertarian Party of New York; Lebron sought the party's nomination in the 2014 gubernatorial election^[6] but finished in second to eventual nominee Michael McDermott.

References