Leonard N. Spano, the patriarch of a blue-collar Westchester County political dynasty who used his experience selling heating oil in Yonkers to jumpstart a career in public service, died early Sunday. He was 88. The cause of death was heart failure brought on by complications from lymphoma, according to his oldest son, Nicholas.

Spano served as a Westchester County legislator for 22 years and County Clerk for another 11, retiring in 2005. But his most enduring legacy could be the 16 children he and his wife, Josephine, raised in Yonkers, several of whom remain a force in county government and political circles today. Nicholas served as a Republican in the state Assembly and Senate for nearly three decades and Michael, a Republican turned Democrat, is the mayor of Yonkers, the state’s fourth-largest city.