A scholarship honoring the late former Queens Borough President Claire Shulman was announced during a press conference at Queens College to support undergraduate and graduate students in the college’s Urban Studies Department.
The conference, hosted Feb. 5 in the Patio Room of the Queens College Dining Hall, was attended by local officials, including current Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr., Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz and Queens Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Grech, as well as Shulman’s daughter, U.S. Astronaut Emeritus Ellen Baker.
“Good leadership is so essential to our success and to our well-being,” Baker said. “My mother was just the ultimate example of somebody who was very tough, but kind, loving and supportive in pretty much every way.”
Shulman, the first woman elected as borough president, served in office from 1986 to 2001 and died in 2020. Born in Brooklyn in 1926, she graduated from Adelphi University and became a registered nurse at Queens Hospital Center in Jamaica.
Baker recalled the many roles her mother held in the community, including president of P.S. 41 Mothers Club and director of community planning boards under former BP Donald Manes.
“It was never about her,” Baker said. “It was always about serving her community and making sure that family, friends, citizens, colleagues and everybody was taken care of and provided for in the best way that we could.”
Eileen Auld, a board member of the Queens Chamber of Commerce Foundation, said that many board members served under Shulman on the Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corporation, which the former borough president established in 2007.
“Claire’s legacy is absolutely amazing,” Auld said. “Claire was a scholar, nurse, spouse, mother and highly skilled public servant who transformed the borough of Queens.”
Auld, who earned a bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies at Queens College and later graduated from the Police Management Institute at Columbia University, said Shulman always encouraged her to make partnerships between municipal and private entities, which helped propel Auld’s career in public service.
Wu said Shulman’s influence on the development of the borough helped lift diverse voices in the community and assured their needs were heard.
“Claire Shulman was truly remarkable as a public servant and one of the most influential leaders ever in the history of the world’s borough and our great city of New York,” Wu said. “Her legacy is one of leadership, compassion, dedication to improving the lives of others.”
According to Melissa Checker, chair of urban studies at Queens College, the scholarship will help support a better future for Queens residents by investing in future urban professionals. The program has already produced students who have served in public office and at the college.
“Our faculty in Urban Studies specialize in the very same issues that Claire Shulman cared about,” Checker said, “such as affordable health care and housing, transportation equity, community-centered development, urban education and environmental justice.”
Katz recalled working with Shulman as her director of community boards for three years while the former borough president was in office, recalling her hardened demeanor and rugged determination.
“First of all, she was tough,” Katz said. “I know we all think she was a very sweet and effective borough president, but she was a tough lady at times. I learned so much from her just watching and listening and trying to figure out how to make projects happen and how to make effective use of the title, as opposed to talking a lot. We can all talk a lot, but she actually made a lot of things happen.”
She recounted a formative moment in her relationship with Shulman while she was still working under her, remembering how the two passed Citicorp Building in Long Island City on their way to Manhattan. Shulman had overseen its construction and subsequent opening in 1989, although the towering 673-foot building stood alone in the industrial district.
Shulman, however, assured Katz the surrounding area would eventually develop and stand as a part of her legacy as Queens borough president.
“I always saw this one building sitting in the middle of nowhere,” Katz said. “But the borough president? She saw it. It happened.”
Katz said her time working with Shulman eventually inspired her to serve as chair of the Standing Committee on Land Use after retiring from her role as community board director, and she often uses the lessons she learned from Schulman throughout her career.
Richards, whom Shulman served as his mentor and campaign manager for, also commended her leadership in the community and for supporting his own political career.
“I know I would not be standing here today as borough president if it weren’t for her support and guidance,” Richards said. “She was just a blessing to me and my family and my life. More importantly, the borough we call home would not be as prosperous, vibrant or strong as it is now if it weren’t for her courage, leadership and vision.”
He said the legacy Shulman left behind can be found across Queens, built into the borough’s brick and mortar. Schulman supported many essential institutions in the borough, he explained, such as the Queens Hospital Center and the Queens Theatre.
Not only did she leave a physical legacy behind, Richards continued, but a legacy of public service from the moment she became a nurse. He said her selfless dedication to the community has continued to inspire his own career serving the 2.4 million Queens residents he represents.
“May they always remember Claire Shulman and her amazing legacy,” Richards said. “It will certainly live on to the students who will study right here at Queens College.”
Katz said it was appropriate that a scholarship was founded in Shulman’s name because it is an investment in something Shulman cared deeply about — education. “She cared a lot about the kids and the future of this borough,” she emphasized.
Baker said she hopes the scholarship will provide inspiration and motivation for students to pursue a career in government or public service. “She was really the fabric of this community and this region,” Baker said of her mother.
Thomas Grech, president of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, said Shulman’s support for the community’s economy extended much further than her investment in business, however. He said her dedication to institutions like Queens College and other educational institutions have helped produce a new generation of doctors, lawyers, bankers and even astronauts.
Grech turned to Baker and told her how proud Shulman would be of her, Katz and Richards for their continued growth and commitment to the community she helped build.
“You stand on the shoulders of those before you,” Grech said. “Never have truer words been spoken or directed to a woman like Claire Shulman.”
Additional reporting by Ramy Mahmoud.
