{{short description|American politician}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Audrey I. Pheffer | image = | state_assembly = New York | district = 23rd | term_start = April 28, 1987 | term_end = March 23, 2011 | predecessor = Gerdi E. Lipschutz | successor = Phillip Goldfeder | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1941|8|13}} | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York | party = Democratic | partner = Glenn Riddell | children = Two including Stacey | alma_mater = Queens College CUNY | profession = Politician | website = {{Official website|1=http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/11jd/queensclerk/index.shtml}} }}
'''Audrey I. Pheffer''' (born August 13, 1941)<ref name="Vote Smart"/> is an American Democratic Party politician from New York. She is currently serving as Queens County Clerk. Previously, she represented District 23 in the New York State Assembly from 1987 to 2011, which comprised Rockaway Beach, Howard Beach and Ozone Park, among other neighborhoods found within the New York City borough of Queens.
==Early life== Pheffer worked from 1973 to 1977 at the Rockaway Occupational Training Center and agency of the Queens Association of ARC, where she worked with the developmentally disabled. In 1977, she was a member of the New York City Commission of Human Rights.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}
Despite her long separation from education and having only a high school diploma, she successfully combined being a working mom and a full-time student at Queens College, City University of New York, where she received a B.A. degree, ''cum laude'', in 1982.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}
She was a Special Assistant to former New York City Council President Andrew Stein and Executive Assistant to State Senator Jeremy S. Weinstein.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}
Pheffer resides in Far Rockaway and has two children, Mitchell and Stacey. She and her partner Glenn Riddell have six grandchildren.<ref name="Official bio"/>
==Political career== On April 28, 1987, she elected to the New York State Assembly, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Gerdi E. Lipschutz.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/29/nyregion/democrat-wins-queens-race-for-a-vacant-assembly-seat.html |title=Democrat Wins Queens Race for a Vacant Assembly Seat |work=The New York Times |date=April 29, 1987 |last=James |first=George}}</ref> Pheffer was re-elected many times, and remained in the Assembly until 2011, sitting in the 187th, 188th, 189th, 190th, 191st, 192nd, 193rd, 194th, 195th, 196th, 197th, 198th and 199th New York State Legislatures. She was Chairwoman of the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection from 1995 to 2011. In the past she has chaired the Assembly's Election Law Committee and the Subcommittee on Outreach and Oversight of Senior Citizen Programs, and served as President of the National Order of Women Legislators from 1995 to 1996.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}
In 2001 Pheffer launched a run for Queens Borough President before ultimately withdrawing from the race.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}
In 2011, she resigned from the State Assembly after being appointed to the position of County Clerk of Queens County. She is ''ex officio'' a clerk of the New York Supreme Court and Commissioner of Jurors of Queens. In 2016, her daughter Stacey Pheffer Amato was elected to her mother's old Assembly seat, becoming the first such same-seat mother-daughter combination in the Assembly's history.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=023&sh=bio|title = Stacey Pheffer Amato - Assembly District 23 | New York State Assembly}}</ref>
== References == <references>
<ref name="Official bio">{{cite web |url= http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=023&sh=bio |title= Audrey I. Pheffer: Biography |publisher= New York State Assembly |accessdate= March 23, 2011}} </ref>
<ref name="Vote Smart">{{cite web |url= http://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=4376 |title= Assembly Member Audrey I. Pheffer (NY) |publisher= Project Vote Smart |accessdate= March 23, 2011}} </ref>
</references>
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060913191458/http://www.nydems.org/html/electedofficials/pheffer.html Biography: New York State Democratic Committee] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930035644/http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16692737&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=575596&rfi=6 Conservative Party Goes Begging For Candidates] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20061130140513/http://www.urbanelephants.com/nyc/node/3754 Weld In Rockaway; Local To Challenge Pheffer] *[http://www.gothamgazette.com/eyeonalbany/assembly/district23.shtml Gotham Gazette's Eye On Albany: New York State Assembly: District 23] *[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50615F63F590C718EDDAC0894D9404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fOrganizations%2fD%2fDemocratic%20Party Democratic Field Is Narrowed For Queens Borough President]
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-ny-hs}} {{succession box | title = New York State Assembly <br>23rd District | years = 1987–2011 | before = Gerdi E. Lipschutz | after = Phillip Goldfeder}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pheffer, Audrey}} Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly Category:Jewish state legislators in New York (state) Category:Jewish American women in politics Category:People from Rockaway, Queens Category:Politicians from Queens, New York Category:Women state legislators in New York (state) Category:Queens College, City University of New York alumni Category:21st-century American women politicians Category:20th-century American women politicians Category:People from Far Rockaway, Queens Category:21st-century American Jews Category:21st-century members of the New York State Legislature Category:20th-century members of the New York State Legislature