Congress returns with a Friday shutdown deadline looming
Mr. Florio grew up in Brooklyn, the son of an Italian American shipyard painter, and brought to the political arena the same intensity that he had shown as an amateur boxer. He had once entered the ring with an opponent who broke Mr. Florio’s left cheekbone, permanently crushing that side of his face.
“I don’t start fights,” Mr. Florio told the New York Times of his later bouts in politics, “but I don’t walk away from them.”
