Claire Shulman
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Claire Shulman (née Kantoff; February 23, 1926August 16, 2020) was an American politician and registered nurse from
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. She served as director of community boards and deputy president of
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
Borough, before becoming interim borough president in 1986 when her predecessor resigned due to scandal. Shulman proceeded to serve in the role full-time and won four elections between 1986 and 2002. She was the first woman to hold the position.


Early life

Shulman was born in
Brooklyn 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 ...
on February 23, 1926. She graduated from
Adelphi University Adelphi University is a private university in Garden City, New York. Adelphi also has centers in Manhattan, Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County. There is also a virtual, online campus for remote students. It is the oldest institution of higher ed ...
and was a registered nurse before getting into politics. She met her future husband, Mel Shulman, a doctor, while both were working at
Queens Hospital Center Queens Hospital Center (QHC), also known as NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens and originally called Queens General Hospital, is a large public hospital campus in the Jamaica Hills and Hillcrest neighborhoods of Queens in New York City. It is operat ...
.


Career

Shulman first became involved in community life when she joined the Bayside Mother's Club in 1955. She was active in Queens community affairs and was appointed to a community board in 1966, eventually going on to become its chairwomen. She subsequently became Queens borough president
Donald Manes Donald R. Manes (, ; January 18, 1934 – March 13, 1986) was a Democratic Party politician from New York City. He served as borough president of the New York City borough of Queens from 1971 until just before his suicide while under suspicio ...
' director of community boards in 1972 and his deputy in 1980. She took office initially as acting Borough President on February 11, 1986, after the scandal-tarred Manes, who later committed suicide, resigned. She was elected Borough President by a unanimous vote of the nine New York City Council members from Queens on March 12. She was then elected by popular vote to the remaining three years of Manes' term later that year and to four-year terms again in 1989, 1993, and 1997. She was unable to run for re-election in 2001 because of term limits, and was succeeded by Helen Marshall on January 3, 2002. Shulman was noted for her passionate advocacy on issues including economic development, airport disputes, and the environment. For instance, she secured funding for the construction of
Queens Hospital Center Queens Hospital Center (QHC), also known as NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens and originally called Queens General Hospital, is a large public hospital campus in the Jamaica Hills and Hillcrest neighborhoods of Queens in New York City. It is operat ...
, as well as for 30,000 more school places for students. She also mediated a compromise with the board in 1987, when it voted in favor of a key city rezoning proposal that would spur the construction of middle-income apartment blocks. Neighborhoods made up of mostly single-family detached homes were against the proposal, and Shulman obtained an exemption for twelve such areas in Queens.


Affiliations

Shulman served as a member of the boards of directors of New York Hospital Queens and St. Mary's Healthcare System for Children. She also assisted the
Queens Zoo The Queens Zoo is an zoo located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City. The zoo is part of an integrated system of four zoos and one aquarium managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society in partnership with the New York Ci ...
in obtaining its first bald eagle. The zoo's current bald eagles, Mel and Claire II, are named after Shulman and her husband.


Later life

Shulman established Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corporation, and served as its president and CEO when it aggressively lobbied the New York City Council in 2007 and 2008 to approve controversial legislation that would remove all of the existing private property owners and 250 industrial businesses from the neighborhood of
Willets Point, Queens Willets Point, also known locally as the Iron Triangle, is an industrial neighborhood within Corona, in the New York City borough of Queens. Located east of Citi Field near the Flushing River, it is known for its automobile shops and junkyards ...
, for redevelopment. She was found to have conducted the lobbying for more than one year without filing any of the required public disclosures. An investigation by the City Clerk's Lobbying Bureau led to it imposing a fine of $59,090 against Shulman's LDC, which was a then-record penalty on a New York City lobbyist. However, Mayor Michael Bloomberg came to her defense, characterizing this as a "cheap shot" against her and adding that "these groups are designed to lobby. I don’t know if they technically broke the law". On a state level, then-Attorney General
Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cu ...
and his successor,
Eric Schneiderman Eric Tradd Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 65th Attorney General of New York from 2011 until his resignation in May 2018. Schneiderman, a member of the Democratic Party, spent ten year ...
investigated Shulman's lobbying campaign over a three-year period. Schneiderman eventually found that Shulman's LDC indeed “flouted the law by lobbying elected officials, both directly and through third parties, to win approval of … favored projects”.


Personal life

During the last years of her life, she and her husband, Melvin Shulman, lived in Beechhurst, Queens, New York. They had one daughter, Ellen S. Baker, an astronaut and a veteran of three
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...
voyages, including one that docked with the Russian space station ''
Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...
''. Their son, Lawrence Shulman, a medical
oncologist Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...
, is chief medical officer at the
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute Dana–Farber Cancer Institute is a comprehensive cancer treatment and research institution in Boston, Massachusetts. Dana–Farber is the founding member of Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard's Comprehensive Cancer Center designated by ...
in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Massachusetts. Their adopted son, Kim Shulman, who worked as an assistant director on television series including ''
Party of Five ''Party of Five'' is an American television teen and family drama created by Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman that originally aired on Fox for six seasons from September 12, 1994, to May 3, 2000. The series featured an ensemble cast led by ...
'' and films including ''
Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves ''Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves'' is a 1997 American science fiction comedy film, and the third installment in the ''Honey, I Shrunk the Kids'' film series. The film marks the directorial debut of cinematographer Dean Cundey and was released throu ...
'', died from a cerebral hemorrhage on June 2, 2001.


Health and death

Shulman survived
breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...
and lost both her breasts in separate
mastectomies Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operat ...
. She died on August 16, 2020, at her home in Beechhurst, Queens. She was 94 and suffered from
lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...
and pancreatic cancer in the time leading up to her death. Before her death, she endorsed
Donovan Richards Donovan Richards, Jr. (born April 9, 1983) is an American politician serving as the Borough President of Queens. He is also a former New York City Council member, having represented the 31st district. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Hi ...
for the 2020 Queens Borough presidency.


References


External links


''City Hall News'' (03/12/2007)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shulman, Claire 1926 births 2020 deaths Politicians from Brooklyn People from Whitestone, Queens Adelphi University alumni Queens borough presidents Jewish American people in New York (state) politics Women in New York (state) politics New York (state) Democrats American nurses American women nurses Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Jewish women politicians 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women