Sy Schulman

{{short description|American politician}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Sy Schulman | image = | order = | office = Mayor of White Plains, New York | term_start = 1993 | term_end = December 31, 1997<ref name=lohud2/> | predecessor = Alfred Del Vecchio | successor = Joseph M. Delfino | birth_date = May 31, 1926 | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York | death_date = {{death date and age|2012|9|1|1926|5|31}} | death_place = White Plains, New York | alma_mater = | profession = Civil engineer | spouse = Rosalind Schulman | children = Two sons | party = Democratic }}

'''Seymour Jerome Schulman''' (May 31, 1926 – September 1, 2012) was an American civil engineer, planner, politician and academic.<ref name=lohud>{{cite news|first=Richard|last=Liebson|title=Sy Schulman remembered as a 'force of nature' in aiding Westchester, White Plains |url=http://www.lohud.com/article/20120904/NEWS02/309040033/Sy-Schulman-remembered-force-nature-aiding-Westchester-White-Plains |work=The Journal News |date=2012-09-03 |accessdate=2012-10-03}}</ref> Schulman served as the Mayor of White Plains, New York, from 1993 to 1997.<ref name=lohud2>{{cite news|first=Milt|last=Hoffman|title=Former White Plains Mayor Sy Schulman dead at age 86 |url=http://www.lohud.com/article/BH/20120901/NEWS02/309010068/Former-White-Plains-Mayor-Sy-Schulman-dead-age-86 |work=The Journal News |date=2012-09-01 |accessdate=2012-10-03}}</ref><ref name=newsday>{{cite news|first=Timothy|last=O'Connor|title=Ex-White Plains mayor Sy Schulman's leadership recalled |url=http://newyork.newsday.com/westchester/ex-white-plains-mayor-sy-schulman-s-leadership-recalled-1.3947099 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304201219/http://westchester.news12.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |work=Newsday |date=2012-09-03 |accessdate=2012-10-03}}</ref><ref name=nytimes>{{cite news|first=Leslie|last=Kaufman|title=Sy J. Schulman, Planner for New York City Parks, Dies at 86 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/nyregion/sy-j-schulman-planner-who-oversaw-new-york-city-parks-dies-at-86.html?_r=0 |work=New York Times |date=2012-09-08 |accessdate=2012-10-03}}</ref>

==Biography== Schulman was born to Russian immigrant parents, Elias and Sarah Schulman, in Brooklyn, New York, in 1926.<ref name=nytimes/> He graduated from Stuyvesant High School in Lower Manhattan.<ref name=lohud2/> Schulman then served in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946 during World War II.<ref name=lohud2/> Schulman received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Cooper Union before completing a master's degree in urban planning at the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation of Columbia University in 1954.<ref name=lohud2/><ref name=nytimes/>

===Career=== Schulman became the chief planner and planning commissioner for Westchester County, New York, during the 1960s.<ref name=lohud/><ref name=newsday/> Under his supervision, Westchester County acquired new land to build new public parks.<ref name=nytimes/>

In 1968, Laurance Rockefeller, the chair of the New York State Council of Parks, asked and subsequently hired Schulman as the general manager of the state park's located within New York City.<ref name=nytimes/>

He also served as the Urban Development Corporation's executive officer.

Schulman taught land-use planning, urban planning and planning law at major universities in the New York Metropolitan Area, including City College of New York, Columbia University, Pace University and the Pratt Institute.<ref name=lohud/>

Schulman was the founder and inaugural president of the Westchester County Association.<ref name=lohud/>

===Political career=== Schulman served as a member, including a stint as the chairman, of the White Plains Planning Board before entering elective politics.<ref name=lohud2/>

He did not run for public office until he was 65 years old, when he was elected to the White Plains Common Council starting in 1992.<ref name=lohud2/> He served on the city's Common Council for two years, until he became Mayor of White Plains in 1993.<ref name=newsday/>

As mayor, Schulman spearheaded efforts to attract new companies and developers to White Plains. He focused on expanding the city's tax base and successfully persuaded major companies, including Nine West, to relocate their corporate headquarters to White Plains.<ref name=newsday/> Schulman oversaw the 1995 opening of The Westchester, a new upscale shopping mall in downtown White Plains, during his tenure.<ref name=newsday/> The Westchester helped to re-establish White Plains as Westchester County's shopping mecca, following the decline of White Plains' two older malls, the White Plains Mall and The Galleria at White Plains.<ref name=newsday/> The city's property taxes were not raised during his four-year tenure.<ref name=lohud2/>

Schulman considered his biggest achievement as mayor to be the "White Plains Vision," a committee of 400 White Plains residents who studied proposals for downtown development, housing and infrastructure.<ref name=lohud2/>

Schulman remained active in local and Democratic Party politics after leaving the mayor's office in 1997. He openly criticized the policies of his successors if he disagreed with them on policy issues.<ref name=newsday/> In 2010 and 2011, Schulman joined with other former White Plains mayors to call for the resignation of then Mayor Adam Bradley over allegations of spousal abuse.<ref name=newsday/> Bradley resigned in February 2011.<ref name=newsday/>

Schulman was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in February 2012.<ref name=lohud/> He died at his home in White Plains on September 1, 2012, at the age of 86.<ref name=nytimes/> Schulman was survived by his wife of 65 years, Rosalind Schulman, and their two sons, Ethan Schulman and Dan Schulman.<ref name=lohud/>

His funeral was held at the Bet Am Shalom Synagogue in White Plains.<ref name=lohud/> The six speakers at the funeral included his son, Dan; ''New York Times'' editor and reporter, Joseph Berger; and Milt Hoffman, the former editor of ''The Journal News''.<ref name=lohud/><ref name=newsday/> Other dignitaries in attendance at the funeral were U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey, White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach, former White Plains Mayor Adam Bradley and White Plains Public Safety Commissioner David Chong.<ref name=newsday/> He was buried in the Sharon Gardens of Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.<ref name=lohud/>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schulman, Sy}} Category:2012 deaths Category:Mayors of White Plains, New York Category:American civil engineers Category:New York (state) Democrats Category:Columbia University faculty Category:Pace University faculty Category:City College of New York alumni Category:Pratt Institute faculty Category:Cooper Union alumni Category:Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni Category:Stuyvesant High School alumni Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II Category:Politicians from Brooklyn Category:1926 births Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in New York (state) Category:Burials at Kensico Cemetery