Henry Stern (New York politician)

Stern grew up in the Inwood neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, the son of Jean (Friedlander), a bookkeeper, and Walter Stern, a tent manufacturer. He attended Bronx High School of Science, graduating at 15.Bumiller, Elisabeth. [https://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 City College and was the youngest member of the class of 1957 at Harvard Law School, at the age of twenty-two.NYT. Clown Prince of the Emerald Empire. By DOUGLAS MARTIN, Published: March 19, 2000

Stern began in public service in 1957 as law clerk to Matthew M. Levy, a New York State Supreme Court Justice. He was appointed secretary of the Borough of Manhattan in 1962, and was an assistant to Borough Presidents Edward R. Dudley, a former ambassador, and prominent African American civil rights activist,{{cite news|last1=Saxon|first1=Wolfgang|title=Edward R. Dudley, 93, Civil Rights Advocate and Judge, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/11/obituaries/11dudley.html?scp=1&sq=Edward%20R.%20Dudley&st=cse|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=11 February 2005}} and Constance Baker Motley, the first African-American woman to become a federal court judge. In 1966, Parks Commissioner Thomas 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 NYC Departments of Licensing, and of Markets, Weights and Measures were consolidated into the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs; its commissioner, Bess Myerson, appointed Stern associate commissioner and the next year he became her first deputy. Commissioner Myerson resigned on March 9, 1973{{cite news|last1=Lichtenstein|first1=Grace|title=Bess Myerson Quits as City Consumer-Affairs Aide|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/03/09/archives/bess-myerson-quits-as-city-consumeraffairs-aide-achievements.html|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=9 March 1973}} and suggested Stern succeed her, however, he continued to serve under the new commissioner Betty Furness until the end of her tenure in 1973.

In November 1973 Stern was elected to the city council as a councilman-at-large for Manhattan on the Liberal Party of New York 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 emblazoned with the Seal of the City of New York to raise funds for libraries and other public purposes.

Stern 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 and no election was held.

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

The election of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani in 1993 brought him back into 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.

An eccentric (but popular) aspect of his later tenure as Parks Commissioner was his insistence that Parks employees and friends of parks have nicknames (called "park names" or "noms du parc"{{cite news|last1=Martin|first1=Douglas|title=On Sunday; Nomenclature, Thy Name Is Henry|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE4DE1439F936A25750C0A96E958260|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=15 March 1998}}) used for communication, especially over walkie-talkies. Stern's personal nickname was "StarQuest".{{cite web |url=http://www.cityhallnews.com/news/127/ARTICLE/1278/2007-10-15.html |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2008-11-05 |url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202330/http://www.cityhallnews.com/news/127/ARTICLE/1278/2007-10-15.html |archivedate=2016-03-03 }}

During his tenure, Stern mandated at least one animal-themed sculpture at every playground the city built or renovated. According to his employee, and later successor, Adrian Benepe, Stern had an obsession with animal-themed architecture, and oversaw the installation of hundreds of animal structures in playgrounds.{{Cite web|last=staff/ben-yakas|date=2021-03-30|title=Parks Department Insists It's Not Planning To Rip Out All The Animal Sculptures From NYC Playgrounds|url=http://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/parks-department-insists-its-not-planning-rip-out-all-animal-sculptures-nyc-playgrounds|access-date=2021-05-29|website=Gothamist|language=en}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.brooklynpaper.com/concrete-animal-sculptures-playgrounds-nyc/|access-date=2021-05-29|website=www.brooklynpaper.com|title=City 'looking into relocating' animal sculptures in playgrounds |date=30 March 2021 }} Another signature policy was the erection of large flagstaffs with naval-style yards bearing both American and Parks Department flags in many parks. In 2021, the parks department announced it was opening a Home for Retired Playground Animals in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, which will be home to the animals which are no longer maintained in their playgrounds.{{Cite web|last=Spivack|first=Caroline|date=2021-05-27|title=The City's Battered, Beloved Playground Animals Are Retiring to Queens|url=https://www.curbed.com/2021/05/nyc-playground-animal-sculptures-retirement-community.html|access-date=2021-05-29|website=Curbed|language=en-us}}

During Stern's tenure as Parks Commissioner, numerous allegations of racism and similar bias were made against him. Lawsuits followed, leading to settlements costing NYC taxpayers millions of dollars. As reported in The Chief-Leader of March 7, 2008 "...the city agreed to pay $21 million to the plaintiffs and their attorneys to settle a lawsuit accusing the Parks Department of racial bias." In the settlement, the Parks Department admitted to no wrongdoing.{{cite web |url=http://www.thechief-leader.com/news/2008/0307/editorial/023.html |title=Stern's Anti-Merit Regime | www.thechief-leader.com | The Chief-Leader NYC Civil Service Newspaper |accessdate=2009-09-01 |url-status=usurped|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081122045545/http://www.thechief-leader.com/news/2008/0307/editorial/023.html |archivedate=2008-11-22 }}

While Stern was out of Parks during the David Dinkins NYC mayoral administration, he served as president of Citizens Union, a good government group founded in 1897. His former colleague on the city council, Robert F. Wagner Jr. was chairman of the board.

On February 4, 2002, Stern returned to the civic world as founder and president of New York Civic, a Manhattan-based good government group. Over nine years, he penned over 750 articles on public policy for the organization. He sent them to a list of people who ask for them, which at one point included 14,000 subscribers. They are also available on New York Civic's website and were regularly republished by The Huffington Post, Queens Tribune, and several other publications.

On September 12, 1976, Stern married 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 had two sons: Jared Ewing,{{cite news|title=Stephanie Rooks, Jared Stern|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/fashion/weddings/08rooks.html|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=8 October 2006}} born in December 1977, and Kenan Walter Davis, born in June 1980.{{cite news|title=Sarah Luskin, Kenan Stern|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/fashion/weddings/12luskin.html|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=12 August 2007}}

Stern died on March 28, 2019, at the age of 83 from complications of advanced Parkinson's disease.[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/obituaries/henry-j-stern-dead.html "Henry J. Stern, Whose Urban Domain Was Green, Is Dead at 83"], The New York Times, March 28, 2019. By Robert D. McFadden. Accessed March 28, 2019.

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://www.nycivic.org Henry J. Stern's non-profit NYCivic]
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=leICAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36 Article on Henry J. Stern from New York Magazine]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/19/nyregion/public-lives-a-quiet-retirement-he-d-rather-kiss-a-fish.html?ref=henry_j_stern New York Times profile of Henry J. Stern]

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{{succession box | before = Gordon Davis | title = Commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation| years = 1983—1990| after = Betsy Gotbaum}}

{{succession box | before = Betsy Gotbaum | title = Commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation| years = 1994—2002| after = Adrian Benepe}}

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Category:1935 births

Category:2019 deaths

Category:The Bronx High School of Science alumni

Category:City College of New York alumni

Category:Harvard Law School alumni

Category:People from Inwood, Manhattan

Category:New York City Council members

Category:Liberal Party of New York politicians

Category:New York (state) Republicans

Category:New York City Department of Parks and Recreation

Category:Lawyers from New York City

Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease in New York (state)

Category:20th-century American lawyers