Scores of films have been made on him and his work and more than 120 books have been written about him, many of them hagiographies with names like The Architect of a Modern State and The Man of The Moment.
"For five decades," Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Sunday, "mayors of both political parties relied on John to represent the city's interests in Albany — as the legislative architect of the state university system, as an advocate for equitable transportation and education funding and on so many other vital issues, John was a true and far-sighted statesman".
In the state Senate, Williams was the architect of an expansion of the state tax credit diverting public funds to charter schools by allowing corporations and wealthy individuals to be refunded with public money when they pay for a scholarship, or "voucher," for a public school student to attend a charter school.
As a successful businessman and the architect of his state's universal health-insurance system, he passes the competence test.
But Ward Connerly, a University of California regent and the architect of the state's 1996 referendum against affirmative action, said he needed more information before he could decide whether to support or oppose the proposal.
Most people believe that Douglas Bruce, an antitax crusader and the architect of the state's constitutional amendment that requires voter approval of tax increases, is the driving force behind the petitions.
Though Hispanics have not turned out at high levels in past years, Democratic activists and Obama campaign officials believe that this year could be different, especially after Hispanic voters flexed their expanding muscle in recent local elections, including one this month that recalled a Republican state senator, Russell Pearce, the architect of the state's tough immigration law.
A succession of more eligible candidates, including Susan Golding, the mayor of San Diego, Ward Connerly, the architect of the state's ban on positive discrimination, and Christopher Cox, a powerful congressman, all flirted with running.
It was a startling rebuke to the Senate president, the architect of the state's go-it-alone approach to enforcement.
Considered the architect of the state's rising Republican Party, Mr. Bellmon paved the way for a Republican successor, Dewey F. Bartlett, after his first term as governor.
