Erastus Corning II was a mayor of Albany, New York. He served for more than 40 years between 1942 and 1983, when Albany County was one of the last two classic urban political machines in the U.S. He died in office in 1983. His great-grandfather, Erastus Corning, was an industrialist and founder of the New York Central Railroad and served as its mayor from 1834 to 1837.