Former Queens Borough President Claire
BY BILL PARRY
Queens lost a towering figure
over the weekend when
Claire Shulman, the first
woman to serve as borough
president, died on Sunday,
Aug. 16.
Shulman, 94, passed away
after battling lung cancer and
pancreatic cancer.
In her 16 years as borough
president, Shulman changed
the way Queens ran its government,
taking office during
the dark days of scandal at
Borough Hall in the spring of
1986. She ushered the borough
into a new era of growth and
economic revitalization, leading
the way with the discipline
and persistence she learned
as a registered nurse during
World War II.
During her humble leadership
beginnings as president
of the Bayside Mother’s
Club in 1955, Shulman demanded
the city renovate her
children’s school.
“I told the Board of Ed I’d
sue them for being slumlords
and they weren’t familiar with
the term,” Shulman said during
a recent interview with
QNS.
The renovation was completed
a mere 18 months later
and her fast results caught
the attention of then-Borough
President Donald Manes, who
named Shulman director of
community boards in 1972 and
his deputy in 1980.
When Manes was embroiled
in scandal and later
committed suicide, Shulman
was elected to replace him by a
unanimous City Council vote
in February 1986.
“She brought Queens
through some of its most turbulent
times with gusto, determination
and love,” said
Former Congressman Joe
Crowley, the longtime leader
of the Queens County Democratic
Party. “Claire Shulman
was a giant in the annals of
Queens County. She did it all
from being a scholar, nurse,
spouse, mother and public
servant.”
A lasting legacy
Shulman’s style of government
depended on her leadership
and the strength of her
staff, which featured future
leaders such as former Assemblywoman
Marge Markey, current
Queens District Attorney
Melinda Katz and Councilman
Barry Grodenchik.
“At a time when government
and governance were at a
Former Borough President Claire Shulman is remembered as a trailblazer who transformed Queens. File photo
low ebb in her beloved Queens,
Claire stepped into the breach
in 1986 and quickly righted
the ship of state, giving the
people of Queens the best government
they ever had,” Grodenchik
said Monday. “Her
legacy of service is beyond
measure but includes tens of
thousands of new school seats,
a new Queens Hospital Center,
Queens Theatre, Queens Zoo,
USTA National Tennis Center,
Museum of the Moving Image,
Queens Botanical Garden,
Queens Museum, Jamaica
Center of Arts and Learning,
new terminals at JFK
Airport, saving the homes of
20,000 families during the coop
and condo crisis of the late
1980s, the New York Times
printing plant, Arverne by the
Sea, a new civil and criminal
court building, a restored Unisphere,
SAGE (the first LGBT
senior center in Queens),
Louis Armstrong House,
Thalia Spanish Theatre, FDA
regional laboratory at York
College, Queens West, countless
local parks, playgrounds
TIMESLEDGER | 6 QNS.COM | AUG. 21-27, 2020
and libraries either rebuilt or
built anew, Townsend Harris
High School, and a new 107th
Precinct, among many other
projects.
Other projects overseen by
Shulman included the Citicorp
Building in Long Island City,
the Langston Hughes Library,
the Flushing Bay Promenade
and Flushing Town Hall.
“We are deeply saddened by
the passing of former Queens
Borough President Claire
Shulman. A strong advocate
for the arts, her unwavering
commitment put Queens on the
map as a hub of culture,” Veronica
Tsang, president of the
board at Flushing Town Hall,
and Ellen Kodadek, executive
and artistic director of Flushing
Town Hall, said in a statement.
“Flushing Town Hall,
like many of our fellow cultural
institutions in the borough,
would never have existed
without Claire’s determination
and support. Last year, at
our 40th anniversary gala, we
were proud to honor Claire, reflecting
her staunch commitment
to Queens. It would be
hard to imagine the richness
of our cultural life of Queens,
and of the borough itself, without
Claire Shulman’s hand.
She will be sorely missed as
a friend and supporter of our
institution, and we thank her
for her dedication. On a day of
sorrow, we also celebrate her
life and her legacy.”
Looking back at her track
record, Shulman has said luring
the film industry back to
the city was one of her greatest
accomplishments. It generates
almost $9 billion a year while
creating more than 130,000
jobs.
“We got the 5 1/2 acres from
the federal government for $1,”
Shulman once said of the former
Paramount Studio that
is Kaufman Astoria Studios
Barry Grodenchik with Claire Shulman.
/QNS.COM
