Arthur Nitzburg In Our Words And His

Some found his political commentary wrong-headed and others found them right on target, witty and trenchant. But every reader of Arthur Nitzburg political column in The Queens Courier found his weekly comments crisply written and controversial.
The 57-year-old columnist died last weekend after a massive heart attack. His column first appeared in The Courier in 1993. Eighteen months ago, he began contributing political commentary for Newsday.
"I miss him already," said Victoria Schneps, Courier publisher. "He was clearly our most popular columnist."
She called him a "renaissance man" because of his wide-ranging interests..He was a college professor, economist, political consultant and spoke French fluently.
Nitzburg was eulogized by several friends and colleagues at services conducted at the Parkside Funeral Chapel in Rego Park.
His wife Ann spoke eloquently about her husband.
"Being with Art was always interesting and usually a lot of fun. And all that hands-on experience [writing about politics] led him to think in different ways and ask question," she said.
Nitzburgs columns always arrived at The Courier before deadline. On election night, he would cover the key Queens races in person and file his story on Tuesday nights just before The Courier went to press. On many an election night, he could be at it until the wee hours of the morning, awaiting final returns at party headquarters.
"His election copy was written incisively despite the late hour," Schneps said.
Nitzburg was a graduate professor of finance at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He is also the author of a textbook on economics and holds graduate degrees in economics and finance from the Wharton School of Finance and New York University.
The columnist, 57, attended Bayside High School, where he was editor of his high school newspaper. After graduate school, he worked for the Hudson Institute in U.S. Defense policy. Later he accepted a position as an assistant to Mayor John V. Lindsay. In 1973, he published a textbook on economics. In the next decade more than150,000 copies in three editions were sold.
As a political consultant, Nitzburg has handled campaigns across the nation since 1968. He was a consultant to Virginia Governor Doug Wilder and New York City politicians Bella Abzug, Shirley Chisholm and Fernando Ferrer.
In his colorful career, Nitzburg offered countless, controversial insights some humorous, others highly critical, even harsh:
On Claire Shulman and Good Guys: "It is hard to believe that Claire Shulman would actually fall for this. The redoubtable Queens Borough President consented to be on the dais when one Michael G. Dowd is presented with the First Good Guy awarded by the Queens Women’s Center at the Flushing Sheraton on June 27. For those who dont remember, Dowd was the one who blew the whistle on all of the late Donald Manes sins 10 years ago, thereby opening the borough presidency for Claires accession. Did Claire really intend that the historic irony go unnoticed?" (from July 4, 1996).
On two political unknowns: "Roland Rogers and Eric Ruano-Melendez are candidates in the Sept. 9 Democratic mayoral primary. If you never heard of them, youre not alone. The media are covering the Democratic mayoral primary as if it didnt exist. Except for their ethnicities (Rogers is Black and Melendez is Latino), they are very similar to each other in program and political belief. Neither one will win the election, but combined, they can seriously affect the outcome (from Aug. 28, 1997).
On Rudy Giuliani thinking about a third term as mayor: "To say the least, this chaotic last minute attempt to rewrite history was comical. The Mayor had no chance to win a write-in campaign for the simple reason that the system doesnt encourage write-in votes. To vote for a write-in candidate, the average voter would need the help of poll workers, would have to press a special button, use a pencil to mark in the name of the write-in choice and then would have to go on with voting in the regular way on the voting machine. Suffice to say, it is difficult. "This strange episode of unintelligible egomania casts a pall on the otherwise sterling behavior of the Mayor in this crisis." (from Sept. 19, 2001).
Pols Honor Their Nemesis
State Assemblyman Mark Weprin
Arthur was brilliant, thoughtful, passionate and occasionally accurate. He made being part of Queens politics a lot more fun. He will be missed.
City Council Speaker and Majority Leader Peter F. Vallone
In the colorful political life of Queens, Nitzburg offered a unique voice and critical eye. His influence and perspective as the boroughs leading commentator will certainly be missed for some time.
City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz
Its a loss because he had a following. Whether you hated or you loved him, you wanted to read him. You wanted to be able to say, "He was really silly, wasnt he?" But he was very, very pleasant. And at the funeral you got to know he was a full person.
City Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi
The sudden passing of Arthur Nitzburg is a great shock for us all. He was brilliant and expert about politics and cared very deeply for people. He will be sorely missed.
U.S. Congressman Joseph Crowley
Whether I agreed with Arthur, I think we always found common ground in the fact that we both love Queens for a similar reason because it is a dynamic, diverse community that can peacefully live and work together. Arthur was able to capture much of this vibrancy in his spirited columns about Queens politics. To say I read his weekly columns in the Queens Courier religiously is not an overstatement.
Queens Borough President Claire Shulman
Arthur Nitzburg was above all a man who loved and was dedicated to his family.
He was also a native New Yorker and talented political columnist whose "Nitzburg On Politics" was a must-read for anyone in government. Clearly, his column was always filled with the latest developments on the political scene and a great love for his community and New York City, which he described in a column as "democracys citadel."
Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer
Arthur Nitzburg was a very complex individual. We knew him as a political animal. Everybody read what he said. At the funeral, we found there was more to him, that he was much more than a political person.