Nicholas Scoppetta (November 6, 1932 – March 24, 2016) was the 31st

New York City Fire Commissioner The New York City Fire Commissioner is the civilian administrator of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), appointed by the Mayor of the City of New York. There have been 34 commissioners excluding Acting Fire Commissioners, and 38 commission ...

. He was appointed to that position by Mayor Michael Bloomberg on January 1, 2002 and was succeeded by Salvatore Cassano on January 1, 2010. He had previously served as the Commissioner of the city's

Administration for Children's Services The New York City Administration for Children's Services (ACS) is a New York City government agency that protects and promotes safety and the well-being of New York City's children and families by providing child welfare, juvenile justice, and ea ...

Overview

As Fire Commissioner, Scoppetta headed a department with an annual budget of more than $1 billion and with more than 16,000 fire, emergency medical service, and civilian members. His extensive experience in government and management spanned more than four decades. The

Fire Department of New York The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...

encompasses fire services and emergency medical services. Scoppetta was also Commissioner of the Administration for Children’s Services, where he served from 1996 through 2001. His six-year tenure was three times the average tenure of Child Welfare Administrators in New York City. During his tenure, ACS engaged in a comprehensive reform of the city’s

child welfare Child protection is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the protection of children in and out of the home. One of the ways to ...

system which won praise from national child welfare experts and the media. In addition, Scoppetta was a Deputy Mayor and Commissioner of Investigation for the City of New York, an Associate Counsel to the

Knapp Commission The Commission to Investigate Alleged Police Corruption (known informally as the Knapp Commission, after its chairman Whitman Knapp) was a five-member panel initially formed in April 1970 by Mayor John V. Lindsay to investigate corruption wit ...

, an Assistant

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the

Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...

, an Assistant District Attorney for

New York County Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, and a Deputy Independent Counsel in the investigation and prosecution of a former Special Assistant to the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

. After a two-year battle with cancer, Scoppetta died on March 24, 2016, at a hospice of

Bellevue Hospital Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States ...

next door to the N.Y.C. Nicholas Scoppetta Children's Center, named in his honor in 2013.

Childhood and education

Scoppetta was born on the Lower East Side of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, in 1932. He was the youngest son of Italian immigrants, who struggled to get by during the Great Depression. By the time he was four years old, his parents turned him and his two older brothers, Tony and Vincent, over to the city's care, initially in a shelter on 104th Street. At first, the three boys were separated, he said, but they were reunited a year or so later by a chance encounter at the dentist's office, where his brother Tony recognized him. Together, he and his brothers ended up in a group home in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

called ''Woodycrest'', now an AIDS hospice. They stayed until he was 12 and they were reunited with their parents. Scoppetta attended public schools in Manhattan, including

Seward Park High School __NOTOC__ The Seward Park Campus is a "vertical campus" of the New York City Department of Education located at 350 Grand Street at the corner of Essex Street, in the Lower East Side/Cooperative Village neighborhoods of Manhattan, New York City. ...

, from where he graduated in 1950. After serving two years in the Army, he attended

Bradley University Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,400 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in five colleges. Th ...

on the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

and graduated in 1958 with a degree in

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

. While at Bradley, he joined

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American fraternal literary societies. The fraternity has 244 active (undergraduate) chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has initiated more t ...

fraternity. In 1959 he was awarded a New York State Regents

Scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholars ...

and attended

Brooklyn Law School Brooklyn Law School (BLS) is a private law school in New York City. Founded in 1901, it has approximately 1,100 students. Brooklyn Law School's faculty includes 60 full-time faculty, 15 emeriti faculty, and a number of adjunct faculty. Brookly ...

at night while working in the criminal courts during the day assisting in the investigation and prosecution of cases in which children had been abused or neglected. He graduated from law school in 1962.

Career in federal and city government

Shortly after he was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in New York City in 1962, he was appointed an Assistant District Attorney in

by District Attorney

Frank Hogan Frank Smithwick Hogan (January 17, 1902 – April 2, 1974) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He served as New York County District Attorney for more than 30 years, during which he achieved a reputation for professionalism and ...

. He served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan D.A.'s Office until 1969, when he became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In 1971, he served as Associate Counsel to the Knapp Commission, which investigated corruption in the New York City Police Department. In 1972, he served for a brief time as Deputy Independent Counsel in the investigation and prosecution of a former Special Assistant to President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

. On December 1, 1972, Scoppetta was appointed Commissioner of Investigation for the City of New York by Mayor

John Lindsay John Vliet Lindsay (; November 24, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American politician and lawyer. During his political career, Lindsay was a U.S. congressman, mayor of New York City, and candidate for U.S. president. He was also a regular ...

, and was re-appointed to that position by Mayor Abraham Beame in 1974. On August 1, 1974, Scoppetta was accused by New York City Controller

Harrison J. Goldin Harrison Jay Goldin (born February 23, 1936) is an American lawyer and former politician. He was born on February 23, 1936, in the Bronx, New York City. He graduated as Science Valedictorian from the Bronx High School of Science in 1953, and ...

of "instructing" a civil servant in the Controller's office to make entries in the Controller's books that were not there when his auditors looked at them. Scoppetta denounced the accusation as "outrageous", and a subsequent investigation by New York State

Special Prosecutor In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exis ...

Maurice H. Nadjari cleared Scoppetta of any wrongdoing. On December 6, 1976, Beame named Scoppetta to the newly created post of Deputy Mayor for Criminal Justice while still remaining in his post as Commissioner of Investigation. He held both positions until he was replaced by incoming Mayor

Ed Koch Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, film critic, and television personality. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was ma ...

on January 5, 1978.

Private practice

After leaving public service in 1978, Scoppetta joined the faculty of

New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in N ...

where he was a Professor of Law and Director of the Institute of Judicial Administration. In 1979, New York Governor

Hugh Carey Hugh Leo Carey (April 11, 1919 – August 7, 2011) was an American politician and attorney. He was a seven-term U.S. representative from 1961 to 1974 and the 51st governor of New York from 1975 to 1982. He was a member of the Democratic Part ...

appointed Scoppetta to a post on the

Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor The Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor (WCNYH) is a regulatory agency in Port of New York and New Jersey in the United States. The bi-state agency was founded in 1953 by a Congressional authorized compact between New York and New Jersey "for t ...

. In 1980, Scoppetta and Eric A. Seiff, a long-time friend from his days at the Manhattan D.A.'s Office, founded the law firm of Scoppetta & Seiff (now known as Seiff Kretz & Abercrombie), where he engaged in the private practice of law until his full-time return to public service in 1996 as the first Commissioner of the New York City Administration for Children’s Services. From February 1995 to January 1996, he was Chairman of the five-member Commission to Combat Police Corruption, which was created by Mayor Rudy Giuliani to monitor the

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

’s anti-corruption efforts.

Return to city government

On January 11, 1996, Giuliani announced the creation of the Administration for Children’s Services and appointed Scoppetta the agency’s first commissioner. ACS was the city’s first independent agency devoted entirely to services for children, with a commissioner reporting directly to the mayor.

Not-for-profit/non-profit advisory work

Scoppetta was a President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the

Children's Aid Society Children's Aid, formerly the Children's Aid Society, is a private child welfare nonprofit in New York City founded in 1853 by Charles Loring Brace. With an annual budget of over $100 million, 45 citywide sites, and over 1,200 full-time employees ...

, a not-for-profit social service agency which annually serves nearly 50,000 needy children and their families in New York City. He was a member of that Board for sixteen years. He served on numerous boards of other not-for-profit institutions and was a member of the Executive Committee of the

Association of the Bar of the City of New York The New York City Bar Association (City Bar), founded in 1870, is a voluntary association of lawyers and law students. Since 1896, the organization, formally known as the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, has been headquartered in a ...

. Among the nonprofits he worked closely with was the New York Blood Center, where he served as a board member from 2006 to 2015. He was also president of New Yorkers For Children, and organization which he founded in 1996 as the non-profit partner to the Administration for Children's Services.

Awards and professional recognition

On January 14, 1997, Scoppetta was awarded the Hogan-Morgenthau Award of the Hogan-Morgenthau Associates, an organization of past and present assistant district attorneys on the staffs of the Manhattan District Attorneys

and Robert M. Morgenthau.

Family life

Scoppetta lived his entire life in Manhattan with his wife Susan, a psychotherapist; they had two children.

References

External links

Fire Department of the City of New York website

New York City Administration for Children's Services website

The Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor website

Children's Aid Society website

New Yorkers For Children website

The Association of the Bar of the City of New York website

Seiff Kretz & Abercrombie website

Scoppetta Kelley & Lee website

Bradley University Website
* Th
Nicholas Scoppetta Papers
at th
New-York Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scoppetta, Nicholas 1932 births 2016 deaths Commissioners of the New York City Fire Department People from the Lower East Side United States Army soldiers American prosecutors Brooklyn Law School alumni American people of Italian descent