1. Claire Shulman was an American politician and registered nurse from New York City.
23 Facts About Claire Shulman
1. 2.
Claire Shulman served as director of community boards and deputy president of Queens Borough, before becoming interim borough president in 1986 when her predecessor resigned due to scandal.
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Claire Shulman was the first woman to hold the position.
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Claire Shulman graduated from Adelphi University and was a registered nurse before getting into politics.
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Claire Shulman met her future husband, Mel Shulman, a doctor, while both were working at Queens Hospital Center.
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Claire Shulman first became involved in community life when she joined the Bayside Mother's Club in 1955.
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Claire Shulman was active in Queens community affairs and was appointed to a community board in 1966, eventually going on to become its chairwomen.
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Claire Shulman subsequently became Queens borough president Donald Manes' director of community boards in 1972 and his deputy in 1980.
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Claire Shulman took office initially as acting Borough President on February 11,1986, after the scandal-tarred Manes, who later committed suicide, resigned.
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Claire Shulman 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.
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Claire Shulman was unable to run for re-election in 2001 because of term limits, and was succeeded by Helen Marshall on January 3,2002.
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Claire Shulman was noted for her passionate advocacy on issues including economic development, airport disputes, and the environment.
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Claire Shulman 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.
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Neighborhoods made up of mostly single-family detached homes were against the proposal, and Claire Shulman obtained an exemption for twelve such areas in Queens.
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Claire Shulman served as a member of the boards of directors of New York Hospital Queens and St Mary's Healthcare System for Children.
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Claire Shulman assisted the Queens Zoo in obtaining its first bald eagle.
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The zoo's current bald eagles, Mel and Claire II, are named after Shulman and her husband.
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Claire 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, for redevelopment.
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Claire Shulman was found to have conducted the lobbying for more than one year without filing any of the required public disclosures.
20.
An investigation by the City Clerk's Lobbying Bureau led to it imposing a fine of $59,090 against Claire Shulman's LDC, which was a then-record penalty on a New York City lobbyist.
21.
Claire Shulman survived breast cancer and lost both her breasts in separate mastectomies.
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Claire Shulman died on August 16,2020, at her home in Beechhurst, Queens.
23.
Claire Shulman was 94 and suffered from lung cancer and pancreatic cancer in the time leading up to her death.