Robert Price (27 August 1932–22 April 2016) was an American attorney, investment banker and corporate executive. A strategist and

campaign manager {{Political campaigning A campaign manager, campaign chairman, or campaign director is a paid or volunteer individual whose role is to coordinate a political campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vote ( ...

for

John V. 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

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...

, Price served as deputy mayor of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

before entering business. He founded Price Communications in 1981.

Early life and education

Price was born in Morris Heights 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 ...

on August 27, 1932.Sam Roberts
Robert Price, Strategist for Lindsay and Rockefeller, Dies at 83
''New York Times'' (April 23, 2016). His parents were Eastern European Jewish immigrantsSmith, p. 428. who ran a grocery store in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. Price graduated from the Bronx High School of Science and, in 1950,

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. He graduated from Columbia Law School, and while a law student worked in the legal department of

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

Career in politics and government

After graduating from law school, Price entered private practice with future

congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

Theodore R. Kupferman Theodore Roosevelt Kupferman (May 12, 1920 – September 23, 2003) was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from New York and a judge of the New York Supreme Court. Biography Kupferman was born in New York City. He ...

. In 1958, Price — then a member of

The New York Young Republican Club The New York Young Republican Club (NYYRC) is an organization for members of the Republican Party between the ages of 18 and 40 in New York City. The New York Young Republican Club is the oldest and largest chapter in the United States, founded ...

— managed the first congressional campaign waged by

on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

, in which Lindsay ran against the candidate of the

party organization A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

. Price then managed Lindsay's successful campaigns for reelection in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

, and

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

. In the latter election, Lindsay was reelected despite Republican presidential nominee

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...

's landslide defeat by Lyndon B. Johnson. Also in 1964, Price managed the campaign of

New York Governor The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a ...

in the Republican party presidential primary in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. Rockefeller initially ran fourth in polls, but under Price's guidance surged to a surprise primary victory in the state. Rockefeller asked Price to work on the presidential primary in California, but Lindsay declined to authorize Price to do so. Price then managed Lindsay's successful 1965 mayoral race. Price then served as

deputy mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...

under Lindsay, becoming (at age 33) the city's youngest deputy mayor. Price's portfolio was operations. Although his tenure was short (just over one year), Price was involved in a number of important events, including the negotiated ending to the thirteen-day

1966 New York City transit strike In 1966, the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) and Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) called a strike action in New York City after the expiration of their contract with the New York City Transit Authority (TA). It was the first strike against ...

, the enactment of a New York City income tax, and "increased financial concessions from the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized ...

in return for approval of a

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

downtown." Price also killed a proposal by

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...

to construct an eight-lane

Lower Manhattan Expressway Interstate 78 (I-78) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs from Union Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, to New York City. In the US state of New York, I-78 extends . The entirety of I-78 consists of the Holland Tunnel ...

, which would connect the Holland Tunnel to the

Manhattan Bridge The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Downtown Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. The main span is long, with the suspension cables be ...

and Williamsburg Bridge.

Career in business

After leaving city government, Price entered the private sector. He was the founder and president of Price Communications Corp., creating the company in 1979 but activating it two years later, when the company obtained capital. By 1985, Price Communications Corp. owned and operated three television stations and eleven radio stations.Pamela G. Hollie
Price Communications in Pact for Law Journals
''New York Times'' (June 12, 1985). In the same year, Price Communications made its first print acquisition when it purchased the '' New York Law Journal'' and its companion publication, the ''

National Law Journal ''The National Law Journal'' (NLJ) is an American legal periodical founded in 1978. The NLJ was created by Jerry Finkelstein, who envisioned it as a "sibling newspaper" of the ''New York Law Journal''. Originally a tabloid-sized weekly newspape ...

'', from SFN Companies, for $20.5 million. Price was also the president of the White Plains-based PriCellular Corp., which he founded in 1992.Steven Lipin
American Cellular to Acquire PriCellular for $811 Million
''Wall Street Journal'' (March 9, 1998). He ran the company jointly with his son, Steven Price; the elder Price becoming chairman and the younger Price became president and chief executive. The company went public in late 1994 and was acquired by American Cellular Corp. in 1998. In addition to his work at Price Communications and ProCellular, Price was also executive vice president of Dreyfus Corp. (an investment management company) and general counsel of Lazard Freres & Co. (a financial management firm). He joined Lazard Freres in 1972.Leonard Sloane
Price Is Joining Lazard Freres
''New York Times'' (December 15, 1972).

Death

Price died on April 22, 2016, in

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 ...

, of a

brain hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

References

Sources cited

*Smith, Richard Norton (2014). ''On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller'' (1st ed.). New York: Random House.

External links

The Robert Price Papers
at th
New-York Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Robert 1932 births 2016 deaths American campaign managers Businesspeople from New York City Columbia Law School alumni The Bronx High School of Science alumni Lawyers from the Bronx 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American lawyers