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CLAIRE SHULMAN ▶A CAREER OF SERVICE Claire Shulman at 90: Celebrating a life in service to Queens BY THE QUEENS COURIER STAFF Former Queens Borough President Claire Shulman left office on December 31, 2001 after nearly 16 years of tremendous achievement in Queens. At the inauguration of her successor, Helen Marshall, Shulman remarked, “It’s hard to get used to being unemployed.” Needless to say, Shulman wouldn’t be away from the public eye for very long. Last month, Shulman celebrated her 90th birthday-- and defying her age, she’s as active as ever in working to make Queens a better place to live, to grow a business and to raise a family. Shulman is presently the CEO of the Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corporation. The organization has been directly involved in the city’s ongoing efforts to transform Willets Point from an industrial wasteland into a combined residential and retail community. She is also advocating for the Flushing West rezoning and renovations to the Flushing-Main Street Long Island Rail Road station. “It is a marvelous improvement in downtown Flushing, and will relieve the No. 7 train to a great degree,” Shulman said last year of the Flushing- Main Street project. But it is her years of service as the borough president which defined Shulman as one of the greatest power brokers Queens has ever known. In her tenure, she secured hundreds of millions of dollars in improvements across the World’s Borough-- from new schools to cultural institutions, from transit hubs to public libraries. Shulman first moved to Queens in 1942. While working as a nurse at Queens Hospital, she met the man who would become her husband and love of her life, Dr. Mel Shulman. The couple had three children and five grandchildren. She arrived on the political scene while becoming involved in local schools in northeast Queens. She would become chairperson of the Bayside Beautification Council and was a charter member of the Bayside Historical Society, an organization dedicated to preserving the neighborhood’s rich history. In 1966, Shulman became the chairperson of Community Planning Board 11, the advisory body focused on land use and other issues in the communities of Bayside, Bay Terrace, Bellerose, Douglaston, Glen Oaks and Little Neck. Six years later, she moved on to the Borough President’s office, where she would serve from 1972 and 1980 as director of Queens Community Boards. In that capacity, Shulman served as the borough president’s chief adviser on matters related to the community boards, including the screening of candidates for the advisory bodies. Shulman rose even higher in the Borough President’s office in 1980, when then- Borough President Donald Manes named her deputy borough president. Six years later, however, Manes would resign the office amid a scandal that ultimately resulted in him taking his own life. Following Manes’ resignation, the Queens City Council Delegation selected Shulman as Manes’ replacement, a selection which the City Council confirmed unanimously. Shulman was sworn into office on January 8, 1987, making her the first female borough president in Queens history. “All of us have a stock in the future, and government plays an important role in building the future,” Shulman said at the time. “Indeed, I realized many years ago that if I really wanted to influence some of the important decisions that affect our lives, getting involved in government was one way to do it.” As it turned out, Shulman would be one of the most active borough presidents in the city’s history. During her years as borough president, Shulman worked to secure more city and state funding for Queens while addressing issues like overcrowding in schools, health care, and the economy. To address health care problems, Shulman launched campaigns to rebuild Queens Hospital Center in Jamaica. In her last State of the Borough address in February 2001, (continued on page 4)


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