John McDonald III RPT
John T. McDonald III (born April 5, 1962) was elected Member of Assembly for the 108th Assembly District on November 6, 2012. McDonald is a life-long resident of Cohoes, who is a husband, father, small businessman, pharmacist, and public servant deeply rooted in his community. His district includes parts of Albany, Rensselaer and Saratoga Counties. It includes Cohoes, his hometown where he previously served as Mayor for 13 years, sections of Albany, Troy and the communities of Green Island, North Greenbush, Rensselaer, Waterford and Watervliet.
McDonald is an alumnus of Keveny Memorial Academy and the Albany College of Pharmacy where he received a BS in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1985 and was later awarded a Doctorate of Humanity. As President of Marra’s Pharmacy, his family-owned business based in Cohoes, McDonald has practiced his profession and has adopted business practices and responsibilities that have led the business to become one of the largest independent pharmacy operations in the Capital Region.
During his tenure as Mayor of the city of Cohoes, McDonald focused on financial accountability, improved quality of life and expanding economic opportunity. He pursued an aggressive economic development agenda centered on downtown revitalization, adaptive reuse of historic buildings, Hudson and Mohawk Riverfront developments and gateway improvements. His accomplishments include residential development, bringing more than 2,000 new residential units to the City, a revitalized downtown and improvements to the Cohoes Falls, which have become a regional tourist attraction. McDonald’s platform for a more transparent and open process for conducting city business has proven to be a success, making the city more financially sustainable today than when he assumed the office of Mayor in 2000.
As Mayor, McDonald was an active member of the New York State Conference of Mayors having served as president of the statewide organization. He chaired the Capital District Transportation Committee, RiverSpark, the Cohoes Industrial Development Agency and the Cohoes Local Development Corporation. In addition, he has served on the boards of the New York State Heritage Areas Advisory Board, New York State Workforce Investment Board, State Comptroller’s Local Advisory Team, the NYS Local Government Records Management Council and the Board of Governors for the New York State Municipal Insurance Reciprocal as well as many other regional councils and commissions.
He enjoys running and golfing, however his most prominent activity is spending time with his wife Renee, and his children Emma Rose, Liam John and Sophia Mary.
Standing Committee Assignments 2013: Aging, Cities, Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities, Real Property Taxation and Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development.