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Blaise Thomas "Tom" Golisano (born 1942) is the billionaire founder of Paychex, the second-largest payroll processor in the United States, and owner of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team. He ran for governor of New York in 1994, 1998, and 2002 as the candidate of the Independence Party of New York. He lost all three elections, spending a combined $93 million over the three campaigns. In 2002, he handed incumbent New York Governor George Pataki the only electoral defeat in his career by defeating him in the hotly contested Independence Party primary and received 14 percent of the vote in the gubernatorial election, his highest total the three elections. By receiving more than 50,000 votes each time, he brought the Independence Party an automatic ballot line for the succeeding four years.

Golisano has received many awards for his prowess in business, including:

• David T. Kearns Medal of Distinction - recognizing significant achievements in business, public service and education, by the University of Rochester's William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration
• Rochester Business Hall of Fame (2001)
• The 1987 Herbert W. VandenBrul Entrepreneurial Award, presented by Rochester Institute of Technology's College of Business
• "Master Entrepreneur" award in Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year awards competition for Western New York
• The "Distinguished Citizen of the Year" award from the Otetiana Council of the Boy Scouts of America
• Shumway Distinguished Service Award from Family Service of Rochester
• Humanitarian of the Year Award, presented by the Boy's Town of Italy, and the Commerce and Industry Award of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce.
• Outstanding Alumni Award from the American Association of Community Colleges
• Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y.
• Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, N.Y.

Golisano has done a great deal of charitable work, founding the B. Thomas Golisano Foundation in 1984, which awards grants to organizations dedicated to providing opportunities for those with disabilities and offering support to their families. The University of Rochester re-named their pediatric facility at Strong Memorial Hospital as the Golisano Children's Hospital in 2002. Golisano donated $14 million to the hospital. March 6, 2006 Golisano Donated $6 million to Bishop Kearney High School and Our Lady of Mercy this was announced at Bishop Kearney where he also launched his 2003 campaign. In September 2007, with a $10 million donation, Golisano launched the Golisano Institute for Sustainability at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

After New York's Republican Governor George Pataki announced he will not run again in the 2006 elections, GOP officials reported that they were attempting to recruit Golisano to run for the Republican nomination. Golisano changed his party affiliation to the GOP (with the Independence Party's chairman's blessing) in October 2005, apparently in preparation for another gubernatorial run. However, on February 1, 2006, Golisano announced that he would not run for the governorship. [1]

Golisano has at times been an important figure in the national Reform Party, however his libertarian views have often put him at odds with the religious wing of the party, similar to the conflicts which drove former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura out of the Reform Party.

• 2002 Race for Governor
  • George Pataki (R) (inc.), 49%
  • Carl McCall (D), 34%
  • Tom Golisano (I), 14%
• 1998 Race for Governor
  • George Pataki (R) (inc.), 54%
  • Peter Vallone (D), 33%
  • Tom Golisano (I), 8%
• 1994 Race for Governor
  • George Pataki (R), 49%
  • Mario Cuomo (D) (inc.), 45%
  • Tom Golisano (I), 4%

• Tom Golisano's Web Page
• B. Thomas Golisano Foundation
• Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People
• Forbes.com: Forbes 400 Richest in America 2004
• Golisano Children's Hospital