Mario Cuomo, the former governor of New York, has died aged 82. A statement from the governor’s office said he died at home of heart failure, with his family by his side. He had been unwell for some time.

Cuomo, a renowned liberal and gifted orator, died on Thursday after his son, Andrew, was inaugurated for a second term as governor. His last public appearance was at an election-night celebration for his son in November.

President Barack Obama led the tributes to Cuomo, who was born in Queens, New York to immigrant parents and whose popularity twice made him a possible contender for the White House during a long career in the frontline of politics.

He was a “determined champion of progressive values, and an unflinching voice for tolerance, inclusiveness, fairness, dignity, and opportunity”, Obama said, whose life showed that the “country’s success rests on the success of all of us, not just a fortunate few”.

The mayor of New York city, Bill de Blasio, said in a statement: “Tonight, New York has lost a giant. Mario Cuomo was a man of unwavering principle who possessed a compassion for humankind without equal.”

Cuomo, a Democrat, was governor of New York between 1983 and 1994, losing to George Pataki in his attempt to be returned for a fourth term. He flirted with running for the White House in 1988 and 1992. For the perceived indecision which supposedly once left a plane idling on a runway before he finally decided not to travel to New Hampshire for the presidential primary, he earned the nickname “Hamlet on the Hudson”.

A lawyer by training and profession, in 1993 he came close to being nominated to the supreme court by President Bill Clinton.

He is survived by his wife, Matilda; Andrew; another son, the CNN journalist Chris Cuomo; and three daughters, Margaret, Maria and Madeline.

His speech to the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco confirming Walter Mondale as the nominee to take on President Ronald Reagan made his name on the national scene.

(the guardian)