20 THE QUEENS COURIER • NOVEMBER 5, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Longtime southeast Queens Councilman Archie
BY QNS STAFF
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Former longtime Councilman and
District Leader Archie Spigner died
Th ursday, Oct. 29. He was 92 years old.
Th e Guy R. Brewer United Democratic
Club announced the news of Spigner’s
death on its Facebook page on Friday,
Oct. 30.
“It’s with great sorrow that we announce
the passing of our great leader former
City Councilman and District Leader ‘Th e
Dean’ Archie Spigner,” the Facebook post
reads. “We will keep everyone updated on
memorial services.”
As news of his passing became public,
tributes dedicated to Spigner were shared
on social media.
Th e Queens County Democratic Party
said the borough lost “an absolute giant.”
“From South Carolina to St. Albans,
from shoe shining to City Council, from
volunteer to legend– Archie ‘Th e Dean’
Spigner lived an almost fabled life that
personifi es the #Queens story,” the party
tweeted.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Twitter
that Spigner was an “absolute legend” who
“will be greatly missed.”
“Queens lost one of its champions today.
Archie Spigner was a force, a tireless organizer
and an absolute legend of South East
Queens,” he wrote. “Th inking of his family
and countless friends today. He will be
greatly missed.”
Queens Congressman Gregory Meeks
said on Twitter that southeast Queens
“lost a godfather of politics.”
“New York City lost a great leader last
night, and our nation lost a great man,”
Meeks wrote. “Archie Spigner will be
missed dearly. May god rest his soul.”
State Senator Leroy Comrie, who represents
southeast Queens, said Spigner was
“a transformative fi gure in civics, government
and politics, and is as responsible as
anyone else alive today for making Black
representation in government a reality.
“Our community and indeed our whole
city lost a giant this week in the passing
of the Hon. Archie Spigner. Archie
Spigner forged a career in public service
that spanned more than half of a century
and made him a legend in his own time,
and not just in Southeast Queens or New
York City, but throughout our country,”
Comrie said.
“To me and to so many others, Archie
was not only the ‘Dean’ of southeast
Queens politics, he was my friend and
mentor — in fact, my political father —
and my heart is heavy because of this tremendous
loss,” Comrie added. “As we
process and mourn his passing, we will
determine how we can commemorate and
memorialize him in a way befi tting someone
of his stature. He was one of a kind,
and I and many of my colleagues in government
were blessed to have been guided
by his wisdom and his caring ways. May
we celebrate his legacy and the incredible
life he led in the service of others.”
Brooklyn Borough President Eric
Adams, a close friend of Spigner, said
the “Dean of Southeast Queens” will be
missed.
“He was the consummate organizer and
a distinguished public servant, a man who
was instrumental in advancing the welfare
of our city’s Black community and
uplift ing its leaders into roles that made
change possible,” Adams said. “Archie was
a respected advisor to me for many years,
dating back to my years in 100 Blacks in
Law Enforcement Who Care. On behalf
of Deputy Borough President Chaplain
Lewis-Martin and our entire borough, my
heart goes out to his wife Leslie and the
entire Spigner family.”
Dr. Berenecea Eanes, the president of
York College, said on Twitter that she was
“saddened” to learn of Spigner’s passing.
“Th e ‘Dean of Southeast Queens Politics’
had a long history of service & was among
several elected offi cials involved in establishing
@YorkCollegeCUNY Rest In
Peace to a friend of York & beloved mentor
to many,” she wrote.
Queens Assemblywoman Alicia
Hydnman said on Twitter that Spigner’s
legacy will “live on forever.”
Th e Man. Th e Legend. Rest In Peace
Archie Spigner,” she wrote. “Your impact
on NY and Southeast Queens will live on
forever. Legends never die.”
Queens Congresswoman Grace Meng
called Spigner a “trailblazer and titan who
fought to improve the lives of those he
represented.”
Former Borough President and current
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz
said Spigner’s “legacy as a champion and
tireless fi ghter for his community will live
on forever.”
“We are so grateful to have had the pleasure
of honoring Archie earlier this year
in celebration of Black History Month for
all the incredible work he has done for the
people of this great borough,” Katz said on
Twitter. “Rest in Power, Sir.”
Spigner was born on Aug. 27, 1928, in
Orangeburg, S.C., the last of fi ve kids. His
family moved in shift s to the northeast in
the late 1930s and beyond, some members
living with relatives in Stamford, Conn.,
and others staying behind on a farm.
Spigner migrated to Harlem, then to the
Bronx, and fi nally, to southeast Queens.
Along the way, he picked up loose
change shining shoes, helping out in local
barber shops. He would get married, then
go on to work in a shoe factory, a bakery,
and as a bus driver, juggling employment
with raising a family.
Spigner enrolled in Central Needle
Trades High School (a “fashion high
school,” he calls it) in Manhattan, graduating
in 1947. He joined its co-op program
and went to work in a shoe factory, no different
than the average sweat shop at the
time. At the suggestion of a co-worker, he
enrolled in the Jeff erson School of Social
Science, a prominent left -wing institution
where he learned parliamentary procedure
— still one of the anchors of politics.
He became the factory shop steward and
thus began his long association with labor
and organizing.
Leaving the garment trade, Spigner
became a New York City bus driver and
in the mid-1950s, he joined the Negro
American Labor Council founded by the
late great labor leader, City College alumnus
A. Philip Randolph. Spigner organized
the Queens Branch of the Negro
American Labor Council.He had been
traveling to Harlem from Queens for
meetings, but there was enough of a critical
mass to merit a Jamaica presence.
He held the fi rst meetings in his living
room in Queens, “even before I had furniture,”
he recalled. He assumed the role
of secretary or assistant secretary. “I’m a
joiner,” Spigner has said. “Th at’s what I
am: I’m a joiner, and I became a volunteer.
Who’ll take the minutes? I’ll take the
minutes!”
One night, Spigner met the late
Kenneth N. Browne, an assistant district
attorney, at Fuzzy’s on Linden Boulevard.
Browne was running for the New York
state Assembly. Aft er Spigner asked, “You
need some help?” Browne invited him to
the local Democratic Club. Th ere, he met
legendary district leader Guy R. Brewer,
who asked Spigner to help organize some
new troops to gather petition signatures
to help Browne qualify for the ballot.
Browne won the election.
Brewer was working as the liaison to
the African-American community for
Queens Borough President Sidney Leviss.
Subsequently, Browne became a civil
court judge and Brewer won the vacated
Assembly seat.Brewer was obliged to
give up his district leader position because
he could not hold it simultaneously with
the legislative seat. He asked Archie to
become district leader and Spigner moved
into Borough Hall to take Brewer’s place
there. Th e musical chairs were humming.
“When I met people like Guy Brewer
and Ken Browne, I recognized that I
needed some (more) education,”Spigner
said.
He enrolled in classes at St. Monica’s
Church in Jamaica — where York College
stands today — to strengthen his academic
skills.He was admitted to an associate
degree program at Queens College in the
mid-1960s, earned a bachelor’s degree in
political science from QC in 1972 and went
on to pursue graduate studies at the college.
In 1989, the New York City Council was
expanded from 35 to 51 members.Tired of
trekking to Albany, Brewer wanted to join
the Council and have Spigner replace him
in the Assembly. Spigner demurred.
Th e Democratic Club’s board of directors
voted — by secret ballot — to resolve
the dispute. Winning by one vote, Spigner
went on to become a councilman and
then deputy majority leader, appointed by
Speaker Peter Vallone. During his 27-year
tenure, Spigner chaired the Committees
of Housing and Buildings, and Economic
Development, and the Legislative Offi ce
of the Budget Review. A two-term limit
was imposed on Council members in
a 1993 referendum and, subsequently,
Archie left the City Council. But his legacy
lived on.
On May 6, 2005, Borough President
Helen Marshall proclaimed “Archie
Spigner Day” in Queens. At a ceremony
that day, federal offi cials renamed a
United States Post Offi ce in St. Albans in
his honor. Congressman Gregory Meeks
authored the bill. It passed both the House
of Representatives and the Senate and
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