Outstanding Service to the Community of Greater New York

Hon. Claire Shulman

In 1986, Claire Shulman became the first woman to be elected Borough President of Queens County.
 
As the highest-ranking elected official in a borough of almost 2 million people, Ms. Shulman plays a major role in a wide range of land use issues, the development of the City's expense and capital budgets and makes recommendations to the Mayor and other City officials that are in the interests of the people of the borough.
 
Ms. Shulman is a graduate of Adelphi University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1990. In 1993, she received an honorary Doctorate of Science degree from the College of Aeronautics. In 1998, CUNY Law School presented her with the Dean's Medal. In 2002, she received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Queens College. She is also the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the President’s Medal fro St. John’s University, the Queens College Medal and the La Guardia Community College Medal. She is also a member of Lambda Alpha International, an honorary professional land economics society.
 
She began her professional career as a registered nurse at Queens Hospital Center, where she also met her future husband, Dr. Melvin Shulman. While raising a family, Ms. Shulman was active in a variety of civic and charitable organizations and eventually was elected in 1968 as Chairperson of Community Board 11 in Bayside.
 
In 1972, Ms. Shulman was appointed as Director of Queens Community Boards, a post in which she served until August 18, 1980, when she was appointed Deputy Borough President. She served as Deputy Borough President for more than five years. On January 28, 1986, she assumed the post of Acting Borough President, and on March 12, 1986 was designated Borough President by a unanimous vote of the Queens delegation of the City Council. Later that year, she was elected to a three-year term as Borough President and was re-elected in 1989 to a full four-year term after garnering 86 percent of the vote. In 1993, she was re-elected to a third term. She was re-elected for a fourth term in 1997.
 
Ms. Shulman's major accomplishments as Borough President have included: the rezoning of dozens of neighborhoods to create appropriate zoning restrictions that generate reasonable and responsible development, while preserving the character of existing neighborhoods; the economic revitalization of many communities, particularly downtown Jamaica and western Queens; expansion of the Borough's economic base; record capital construction programs to improve the Borough's infrastructure; increased funding for senior citizen centers and activities; cultural programs and libraries. She has also been largely responsible for the passage of legislation to reform the co-op/condo conversion process. The Borough President also played a major role in helping to secure funding for 35,000 additional school seats in the Board of Education’s five-year Capital Plan.
 
The Shulmans have three children and five grandchildren. Lawrence, a physician and his wife, Nancy, live in Boston with their two children, David and Caroline. Ellen, a physician-astronaut, and her husband, Ken Baker, live in Houston with their daughters, Karen Sarah and Meredith Claire. Baker is a veteran space traveler, who in 1989 flew aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis, a flight highlighted by the launching of the interplanetary spacecraft Galileo. In June 1992, she flew aboard the Columbia on a 14-day mission, the longest shuttle flight. On June 27, 1995 Dr. Baker, the payload commander, and the crew of Atlantis took off on a 10-day flight that included the first ever docking of the shuttle with the Russian space station Mir. The Shulman's youngest son, the late Kim, was an Assistant Director for motion pictures and television productions, and a member of the Directors Guild of America. Until his death in 2001, he lived in North Hollywood with his son, Daniel.
 
Since leaving public office at the end of 2000, Mrs. Shulman has remained active in public and civic affairs, serving as a board member of the Queens County Savings Bank, Flushing Cemetery, St. Mary’s Hospital for Children, New York Hospital Queens and the Primary Care Development Corporation.