James V. Arcadi

James V. Arcadi (October 14, 1940 – October 12, 2013) was a Democrat US politician from Buffalo, New York. He represented the 8th District in the Erie County Legislature from 1974-1977.

Born in Buffalo, Arcadi was a graduate of Grover Cleveland High School and earned a law degree from the University at Buffalo. He was an Army veteran.

An Erie County legislator in the mid-1970s, Arcadi represented the 8th District and served as Democratic majority leader until he and a former assistant Erie County district attorney were indicted in a court-fixing case. After his misdemeanor bribery conviction was reversed, Arcadi ran unsuccessfully for Buffalo City Court judge before he joined the staff of the county Surrogate’s Court in 1999.

Arcadi worked for Surrogate Judge Joseph S. Mattina and, later, Surrogate Judge Barbara Howe, before retiring in 2010.

Between 1997 and 2007, Arcadi technically died on three occasions. During that decade, he also received a heart transplant in 1998 and a kidney transplant in 2003.

Following his third near-death experience in September 2006, when he collapsed in front of the Rath Building, he told The Buffalo News:

“I heard the doctor pronounce me dead. I heard my two kids and my ex-wife talking about me ... Fortunately, they were saying good things.”

“I saw a bright light and I saw God. He told me, ‘I’m sending you back to your kids’.”