Seymour Jerome Schulman (May 31, 1926 – September 1, 2012) was an American

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

, planner,

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and academic. Schulman served as the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State , su ...

, from 1993 to 1997.

Biography

Schulman was born to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n immigrant parents, Elias and Sarah Schulman, in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, in 1926. He graduated from

Stuyvesant High School Stuyvesant High School (pronounced ), commonly referred to among its students as Stuy (pronounced ), is a State school, public university-preparatory school, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school ...

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

. Schulman then served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

from 1944 to 1946 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Schulman received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

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, sewage ...

from

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

before completing a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

at the

Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) is the architecture school of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. It is regarded as an important and highly prestigious architecture school.

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1954.

Career

Schulman became the chief planner and planning commissioner for

Westchester County, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...

, during the 1960s. Under his supervision, Westchester County acquired new land to build new public parks. In 1968, Laurance Rockefeller, the chair of the New York State Council of Parks, asked and subsequently hired Schulman as the general manager of the

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

's located within

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 ...

. He also served as the Urban Development Corporation's

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer, o ...

. Schulman taught land-use planning, urban planning and planning law at major universities in the New York Metropolitan Area, including

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

, Pace University and the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

. Schulman was the founder and inaugural president of the Westchester County Association.

Political career

Schulman served as a member, including a stint as the chairman, of the White Plains Planning Board before entering elective politics. He did not run for public office until he was 65 years old, when he was elected to the White Plains Common Council starting in 1992. He served on the city's Common Council for two years, until he became Mayor of White Plains in 1993. As mayor, Schulman spearheaded efforts to attract new companies and developers to White Plains. He focused on expanding the city's

tax base A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal person, legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regiona ...

and successfully persuaded major companies, including

Nine West Nine West, also known as 9 West, is an American online fashion retailer which is based in White Plains, New York. It was founded in 1983 and closed its brick and mortar stores business in 2018. Its products continue to be sold at other retai ...

, to relocate their corporate headquarters to White Plains. Schulman oversaw the 1995 opening of The Westchester, a new upscale shopping mall in downtown White Plains, during his tenure. The Westchester helped to re-establish White Plains as Westchester County's shopping mecca, following the decline of White Plains' two older malls, the White Plains Mall and The Galleria at White Plains. The city's

property tax A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inheri ...

es were not raised during his four-year tenure. Schulman considered his biggest achievement as mayor to be the "White Plains Vision," a committee of 400 White Plains residents who studied proposals for

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

development, housing and

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

. Schulman remained active in local and Democratic Party politics after leaving the mayor's office in 1997. He openly criticized the policies of his predecessors if he disagreed with them on policy issues. In 2010 and 2011, Schulman joined with other former White Plains mayors to call for the resignation of then Mayor Adam Bradley over allegations of spousal abuse. Bradley resigned in February 2011. Schulman was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in February 2012. He died at his home in White Plains on September 1, 2012, at the age of 86. Schulman was survived by his wife of 65 years, Rosalind Schulman, and their two sons, Ethan Schulman and Dan Schulman. His funeral was held at the Bet Am Shalom Synagogue in White Plains. The six speakers at the funeral included his son, Dan; ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' editor and reporter, Joseph Berger; and Milt Hoffman, the former editor of '' The Journal News''. Other dignitaries in attendance at the funeral were

U.S. Rep. The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

Nita Lowey, White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach, former White Plains Mayor Adam Bradley and White Plains Public Safety Commissioner David Chong. He was buried in the Sharon Gardens of

Kensico Cemetery Kensico Cemetery, located in Valhalla, Westchester County, New York was founded in 1889, when many New York City cemeteries were becoming full, and rural cemeteries were being created near the railroads that served the city. Initially , it was ...

Valhalla, New York Valhalla is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the New York City metropolitan area. Its population was 3,162 at the 2010 U.S. Census. The name was in ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schulman, Sy 2012 deaths Mayors of White Plains, New York American civil engineers New York (state) Democrats Columbia University faculty Pace University faculty City College of New York alumni Pratt Institute faculty Cooper Union alumni Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni Stuyvesant High School alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II Politicians from Brooklyn 1926 births Deaths from pancreatic cancer in New York (state) Burials at Kensico Cemetery