6 AUGUST 20, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Former Queens Borough President Claire
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
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 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
Former Borough President Claire Shulman is remembered as a trailblazer who transformed Queens. File photos
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 co-op 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 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,
Barry Grodenchik with Claire Shulman.
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