Toby Ann Stavisky (née Goldhaar, born June 26, 1939) is an American politician serving as a member of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan comp ...

, having held a seat since 1999. She represents the 11th district, which comprises parts 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 ...

Life and career

Stavisky was born and raised on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

of Manhattan. She attended New York City public schools before graduating from

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Sp ...

, and

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

, which she attended on an academic scholarship. The Senator completed graduate courses at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admin ...

and

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

. After working in the actuarial department of a major insurance company, Stavisky taught Social Studies in the New York City high schools. She served as District Manager in Northeast Queens for the Census, where she directed more than 1,000 field and office staff and was cited by the Commerce Department for her outstanding work. Stavisky was married to Dr.

Leonard P. Stavisky Leonard Price Stavisky (September 11, 1925 – June 19, 1999) was an American university professor and politician from New York. Life He was born on September 11, 1925, in the Bronx, New York City. He graduated from City College of New York in 19 ...

(1925–1999), a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

from 1966 to 1983, and of the New York State Senate from 1983 until his death in 1999. Her son, Evan M. Stavisky, is a political consultant as well as a local district leader.

New York Senate

Upon the death of her husband in 1999, Stavisky ran and easily won the special election to succeed him. She is the first woman from Queens County elected to the State Senate. When she first won election, the district was predominantly

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, but has shifted drastically over the past two decades to become majority Asian American. As such, Stavisky has faced primaries in recent years against Asian-American candidates, but has been successful in each challenge. From 2003 to 2008, Stavisky served as Assistant Minority Whip and Ranking Minority Member of the Committee on Higher Education. She currently serves as the Chairwoman of the Committee on Higher Education. In 2013, Stavisky was appointed to the subcommittee on New York City Education. In 2022, Stavisky sponsored a bill that would give state health insurance coverage to unauthorized immigrants. Stavisky has claimed that New York's bail reform laws have had no clear impact on the increase in crime. In 2023, Stavisky's Senate district

changed Change or Changing may refer to: Alteration * Impermanence, a difference in a state of affairs at different points in time * Menopause, also referred to as "the change", the permanent cessation of the menstrual period * Metamorphosis, or chang ...

from the 16th to the 11th.

References

External links

New York State Senate: Toby Ann Stavisky
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stavisky, Toby Ann Living people Democratic Party New York (state) state senators People from Whitestone, Queens Women state legislators in New York (state) Syracuse University alumni Hunter College alumni 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians People from the Upper West Side The Bronx High School of Science alumni 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians 1939 births