Mike Easley
Politician
This Democratic Party politician served as Governor of North Carolina from 2001 until 2009. Previously, he had held office as North Carolina Attorney General.
After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in political science, he attended the North Carolina Central University School of Law.
He was the second North Carolina governor of the Catholic faith (Thomas Burke, who held office during the late Eighteenth Century, was the first).
His marriage to attorney and law professor Mary Pipines Easley resulted in a son named Michael Easley, Jr.
His Lieutenant Governor, fellow Democrat Bev Perdue, became Governor of North Carolina after his term ended in 2009.