Bernard Thomas "Tom" Golisano (born 1942) is an American billionaire businessman and the founder of Paychex, the second-largest payroll processor in the United States, and owner of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team and Buffalo Bandits lacrosse 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 in 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. He has an associate's degree from Alfred State College.