Henry Stern

Henry J. Stern (born May 1, 1935); was a member of the New York City Council from 1972 to 1983 and appointed as the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation from 1983 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2001.

Early life

Stern grew up in the Inwood neighborhood of Upper Manhattan. He attended Bronx High School of Science, graduating when he was 15. [Bumiller, Elisabeth. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEEDF113FF930A15754C0A963958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=3 "Guarding the Turf, Stepping on Toes; Henry Stern, Passionate and Blunt, Champions the City Parks"] , "The New York Times", July 23, 1995. Accessed October 28, 2007. "There are a few other key things that define Mr. Stern. He grew up in Inwood, a mixture of Jewish, Irish and Greek immigrants several generations ago but now a largely Dominican neighborhood.... He was a child prodigy, graduating from the Bronx High School of Science at 15."] . He attended CUNY and Harvard Law School.

Political career

He began in public service as law clerk to a New York State Supreme Court Justice, Matthew M. Levy. He was appointed Secretary of the Borough of Manhattan in 1962, and was an assistant to Borough Presidents Edward R. Dudley and Constance Baker Motley. In 1966, Parks Commissioner Tom Hoving appointed him executive director of the agency. He later became Assistant City Administrator in the office of Deputy Mayor Timothy W. Costello. In 1969, the new Consumer Affairs Commissioner appointed him Associate Commissioner and the next year he became her first deputy. He continued to serve until the end of Betty Furness' term in 1973.

City Council

In November 1973 he was elected to the City Council as a Councilman-at-large for Manhattan on the Liberal Party of New York State line, defeating the Republican candidate by about 1000 votes to win second place (two were elected per borough). His at-large colleague on the Council was Robert F. Wagner, Jr. and the two worked together on many matters, including the sale of neckties to raise funds for libraries.

He was re-elected in 1977, winning by 16,000 votes. In 1981, he received the Republican as well as the Liberal nomination, but the position was abolished by the Federal courts.

Parks Commissioner

In February 1983, Mayor Edward I. Koch appointed him Commissioner of Parks & Recreation; he served for Koch's second and third term.

The election of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani in 1993 brought Mr. Stern back to city government; he was appointed Parks Commissioner, starting January 1, 1994. He was one of the few Giuliani commissioners to serve the entire eight years of his mayoralty, plus a month with Mayor Bloomberg.

Civic life

Citizens Union

NYCivic

On February 4, 2002, Henry J. Stern returned to the civic world as founder and president of [http://www.nycivic.org NYCivic] . In the last five years, he has written 362 articles on public policy. He sends them to a list of people who have requested them, which now includes 14,000 subscribers.

Personal life

On September 12, 1976 he was married to Dr. Margaret Lora Ewing, a pediatrician whom he met at a meeting of the Park Lincoln Free Democrats club on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. They have two sons, Jared, born in December 1977 and Kenan, born in June 1980.

References

Legacy

External links

* [http://www.nycivic.org Henry J. Stern's non-profit NYCivic]