Gail S. Shaffer (born August 1, 1948) is an American politician and activist who served as the 59th Secretary of State of New York under Mario Cuomo. Shaffer grew up on a family farm in Blenheim, New York. She graduated from Gilboa-Conesville Central School in 1966 as valedictorian. Awarded a full scholarship to Elmira College, she graduated as class valedictorian in 1970, and a Phi Beta Kappa member, with a B.A. summa cum laude in Political Science. She studied abroad for her junior year at Sciences Po. She also spent a semester of her senior year on a kibbutz in Israel.