Samantha Smith (1972-1985) was an American peace activist during some of the most tense moments in the Cold War. Samantha Smith was born in Maine in 1972. In 1982, at 10 years old, she decided to write a letter to the then current Soviet Union Leader Yuri Andropov. Smith had listened to newscasters and watched science videos on the imposing threat of nuclear war. Feeling anxious about the global situation, Smith followed her mother's advice to reach out directly to the new leader of Soviet Russia. In the letter, Smith expressed her concern over the threat of war. She asked Andropov if he was planning to vote for there to be a war and "why he wanted to conquer the world." The letter was published in the Soviet newspaper "Pravda." Although Smith was excited that her letter was published, she had not yet received a response from Andropov himself. Therefore, Smith wrote a second letter, this time to the Soviet Ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Dobrynin, to ask why Andropov hadn't responded. In the spring of 1983, Andropov responded to her letter, assuring that he did not want to conquer the world and inviting Smith and her family to visit the Soviet Union. This letter gained national attention and although some were skeptical on Andropov's reasons for inviting Smith to the USSR, she ultimately decided to go and visited in July, 1983. Samantha was met with a warm welcome from the Russian public and media. During her two week stay in Russia, Smith visited Lenin’s grave, the Bolshoi Ballet, the Artek summer camp in Crimea, and met Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to go to space. She met many people, including fellow children, many of whom had never met an American before. Her visit was widely covered by both Soviet and Western press. She was dubbed "America’s Youngest Ambassador." Upon her return to the United States, Smith appeared on many media outlets such as "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson," Disney Channel (where she interviewed Democratic presidential candidates), had many interviews, and began writing her own book. Smith described that Americans had been given the wrong impression of Soviet people. She reported that unlike how the Soviets were often portrayed, they wanted peace just as much as any American did. Smith also stated that the other children she met in Russia were just like some of the kids she knew in the United States. Overall, the experience was very positive for Smith and highlighted the humanity that exists no matter which country you are from. However, with this coverage, some questioned whether Samantha Smith was being used as a pawn by both governments. Yet some argue that by presenting and representing herself as a regular American girl, Smith evaded this mistrust. Additionally, although the goal of the invitation might have been to show Soviets as peace-loving and kind, the trip also brought a favorable light to Americans. Smith made it hard for both sides to continue villainizing each other. Samantha Smith's journey was inspirational and showed the power of human connection during war. However, her work had little impact on the increasing strain between the two governments. The relationship continued to deteriorate and nuclear war was still a massive threat. Through this turmoil, Smith was prepared to stay in the spotlight and stand as an example of what can be achieved through openness and curiosity. Tragically, Samantha Smith and her father were killed in a plane crash in 1985 on their way back to Maine. She was 13 years old. Both the United States and the Soviet Union mourned her passing. President Reagan sent a condolence letter to her mom and both American and Soviet officials attended her funeral in Maine. In total, about 1,000 people attended. She was also eulogized in Moscow as a champion of peace. Since her death, many places and things have been named in her honor. Such as a bronze statue in Augusta, Maine made in 1986, depicting Smith releasing a dove with a bear cub clinging to her legs. The bear cub represents both Russia and Maine, bears are considered iconic symbols of both areas, and the dove is an international symbol of peace. Additionally, in 1985, Soviet Russia released a stamp with Smith's face and name (in Russian) and named a diamond found in Yakutsk, Siberia after her. Following her death in 1985, her mother Jane Smith, founded the Samantha Smith Foundation. Over the course of a decade, The foundation organized summer visits for children, to and from the Soviet Union and its successor states. In 1986, Jane Smith accompanied 20 of Samantha Smith's classmates on a trip to Moscow to visit some of the site Samantha had also visited 3 years earlier. In 1988, Soviet children came to summer camp in Maine, and Maine children went to summer camp in Russia through the Foundation. Then in 1990 the Foundation hosted children from the Chernobyl fallout zone, many of them suffering radiation-induced health problems. The next year, in 1991, they...

Margaret I. Carman (1890-1976) taught at Flushing High School for 44 years. she was instrumental in establishing the Flushing Freedom Trail to link the area’s rich heritage through its landmarks. Carman was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and served as President of the Bowne House Historical Society for 10 years.

Mamie Fay (1872-1949) was the first principal of P.S. 122 in Astoria, now named in her honor as P.S. 122 The Mamie Fay School, where she served from 1925 until her retirement in 1942. Following the consolidation of Queens into New York City in 1898, she became the first teacher in the borough to be designated as a principal. As a member of the Queensborough Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, she also worked to protect children’s rights. Born in Brooklyn to John and Mary Archer Fay, Mamie graduated from Flushing High School and Columbia University before beginning her career in education as a teacher in 1898. In 1905, she earned her principal’s license. Five years later, she became principal of what was then P.S. 7 in Astoria, moving on to serve at P.S. 122 when it first opened in 1925. She was active in her community, serving as a member of the Teachers’ Council of the City of New York, the New York Principals Association, the Teachers’ Organization for Women’s Suffrage, and the League of Women Voters. In addition, she was the first woman to become a member of the Queensborough Chamber of Commerce. Fay died at her home in Flushing on March 19, 1949. On September 20, 2024, the section of Ditmars Boulevard between 21st and 23rd Streets in Astoria was co-named Mamie Fay Way in her honor. The street is located directly in front of P.S. 122 Mamie Fay School where she served for 17 years.

Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and influential figures in jazz, known for both his trumpet improvisations and his distinctive singing voice. He also broke down numerous racial divides in the music and entertainment worlds, becoming the first Black performer to get featured billing in a major Hollywood film ("Pennies From Heaven," 1936) and the first Black host of a national radio show (Fleischmann's Yeast Show, 1937). Born in New Orleans in 1901, Armstrong grew up impoverished in a racially segregated city. He dropped out of school in fifth grade to work, and developed a close relationship with a local Jewish family that gave him odd jobs and nurtured his love of music. By the age of 11, Armstrong wound up in the Colored Waif’s Home for Boys, where he joined the band and studied the cornet in earnest. Upon his release from the home in 1914, he began working as a musician on Mississippi riverboats and other local venues. His reputation skyrocketed, and by the early 1920s he moved north, performing and recording with jazz bands in Chicago and New York. Throughout the 1920s and '30s, Armstrong made dozens of records with his own and many other ensembles, toured extensively, and began performing in Broadway productions and movies. After some business and health setbacks, and in response to changing musical tastes, Armstrong scaled his group down to a six-piece combo in the 1940s and resumed touring internationally, recording albums and appearing in movies. Some of his biggest popular hits came in the later years of his career, including "Hello Dolly" (1964) and "What A Wonderful World" (1967). His grueling schedule took its toll on his heart and kidneys and in 1968 he was forced to take time off to recuperate, but he began performing again in 1970. Armstrong died in his sleep in July 1971, just a few months after his final engagement at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. Armstrong and his fourth wife, Lucille Wilson, purchased their home in Corona in 1943, shortly after they were married, and lived there for the remainder of their lives. After Lucille’s passing in 1983, she willed the home and its contents to the city of New York, which designated the City University of New York, Queens College to administer it. The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and a New York City Landmark in 1988. The archives became accessible in the 1990s, and the historic house opened for public tours in 2003. It also now serves as a venue for concerts and educational programs.

Thurgood Marshall was born in 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland. His father was a railroad porter and steward and his mother a teacher. After graduating from Lincoln University, he was rejected from the all-white University of Maryland Law School, he attended Howard University Law School. He graduated at the top of his class in 1933, he went into private practice and worked on different civil rights suits. One successful suit was against the University of Maryland Law SchooL for denying a Black applicant solely based on race. Marshall worked for the NAACP first as a staff lawyer, then as a lead chair, and a few years later as the chief of the Legal Defense and Education Fund. He won 29 of the 32 cases the NAACP brought before the U.S. Supreme Court, which related to voting rights issues, segregation and more. His most famous case was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in which "separate but equal" as a justification for segregation was struck down. Marshall was later named U.S. solicitor general and nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. Here he continued to advocate for change and justice for marginalized peoples throughout the United States. He retired with the nickname "the Great Dissenter," indicative of his continued commitment to advocacy even in the midst of a conservative court.

Natalie Katz Rogers (1919-2023) was the founder of Queens Centers for Progress, a nonprofit organization established in 1950 to advocate for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. A champion for those with these disabilities, she served on the board of directors for the Cerebral Palsy Association of New York State. Rogers advocated for policies at the state and federal levels that would empower individuals with disabilities and helped expand the range of services available to them. Rogers began advocating for children with cerebral palsy after visiting a ward of patients at Queens General Hospital in 1950. Recognizing the specific needs of these children, Rogers and several concerned parents worked together to establish United Cerebral Palsy of Queens, which is now known as Queens Centers for Progress. In addition to her work in advocacy, Rogers was an aerodynamic engineer for TWA during World War II and served as Mayor of the Village of Ocean Beach on Fire Island from 1998 to 2006.

Lewis Howard Latimer was an African American inventor and humanist. Born free in Massachusetts, Latimer was the son of fugitive slaves George Latimer and Rebecca Smith, who escaped from Virginia to Boston in 1842. Upon arrival, George Latimer was captured and imprisoned, which became a pivotal case for the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts. His arrest and the ensuing court hearings spurred multiple meetings and a publication, “The Latimer Journal and the North Star,” involving abolitionists like Frederick Douglass. The large collective effort eventually gained George his freedom by November 1842. Against this backdrop, Lewis Latimer was born in 1848. Latimer’s young life was full of upheaval as his family moved from town to town while tensions in the country continued to mount before the Civil War broke out in 1861. In 1864, Latimer joined the Union Navy at age 16. After the conclusion of the war, Latimer was determined to overcome his lack of formal education; he taught himself mechanical drawing and became an expert draftsman while working at a patent law office. He went on to work with three of the greatest scientific inventors in American history: Alexander Graham Bell, Hiram S. Maxim and Thomas Alva Edison. Latimer played a critical role in the development of the telephone and, as Edison’s chief draftsman, he invented and patented the carbon filament, a significant improvement in the production of the incandescent light bulb. As an expert, Latimer was also called to testify on a number of patent infringement cases. Outside of his professional life, Latimer wrote and published poems, painted and played the violin. He was one of the founders of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Queens and was among the first Civil War veterans to join the Grand Army of the Republic fraternal organization. He also taught English to immigrants at the Henry Street Settlement. Latimer Gardens is a public housing development administered by the New York City Housing Authority. Constructed in 1970, it consists of four 10-story buildings with a total of 423 apartments.

The following text was contributed by Det. Abear's widow, Catherine Abear: Ray Abear \[1976-2020] was a Queens native and spent his entire life in this community – he was raised on this block and this is where he would start a family and raise his children as well. He attended St. Nicholas of Tolentine church, P.S. 131 and St. John’s University. His first job was at Mark’s Aquarium on Parsons Boulevard, which gave him his passion for sea life, something he shared with many communities he came into contact with. He even helped businesses, community members and members of the NYPD set up their own aquariums. There’s even a fish tank in his memory at the Queens Special Victims office.   Ray’s passion and commitment to the community was professional as well. His entire 20-year career in the NYPD was spent making the Queens community a better place – first in the 112th Precinct and then in the Queens Special Victims Squad. Local business owners, restaurants, community members – everyone knew Ray and his giant smile.   There are few more challenging tasks in law enforcement than Special Victims, and Ray was passionate about his work with the Queens Squad. Each of the letters from colleagues supporting this honor of a street co-naming highlighted the compassion, patience, sensitivity and skill Ray brought to this most difficult work and the commitment he brought to finding justice for these individuals. One letter even said, “No one performed this difficult work better than Detective Raymond Abear.”   This honor – having their dad’s name permanently affixed to this street corner – is a reminder to his children that their dad was a hero not only to his family but the entire community and he will never be forgotten. Ray’s legacy will live on forever thanks to everyone who helps keep his memory alive.

Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) was an educator and philosopher, mentor to African-American scholars, and the journalist and founder of the Association of African American Life and History. He believed that it is necessary for a race to have a history or it will be made insignificant, and that the study of African-American history would make for a better society. Initiated by Miss Gertrude McBrown and Mrs. Ruby A. Carter, officers of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, the Carter G. Woodson Reference Collection of African-American Culture and Life was dedicated at the Central Library in May 1968.

Poet, novelist and playwright Langston Hughes (1901-1967) grew up in the Midwest and moved to New York City to attend Columbia University. Hughes is known as a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural mecca for Black intellectuals and artists in the early 20th century. He wrote about African American life between the 1920s and 1960s, including "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "Montage of A Dream Deferred," and "Not Without Laughter," which won the Harmon Gold Medal for Literature. His ashes are interred beneath a mosaic in the NYPL's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, in Harlem.

James Marcel Cartier (1975-2001), a Local 3 Union electrician working at the World Trade Center, was killed in the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. James was the second-youngest child of seven in his Jackson Heights family. Born on June 22, 1975, he was soft spoken, cheerful, and easily affectionate. James had a strong work ethic. Beginning at age 13, he worked several jobs at a mall in Jackson Heights, from a stationery store to a drugstore, and more. He graduated from Monsignor McClancy Memorial High School in 1994. He was close with his younger brother, Michael. The two worked together at a local pizzeria, and shared a childhood bedroom before moving out to an apartment in Astoria together with a friend. Michael said they had a bad night's sleep when they first moved, since they were no longer sharing a room. Even with their separate apartment, James continued to visit his parents, Carmen and Patrick, frequently for dinner. He was well-known in the neighborhood because of that work ethic, which continued during his time as an electrician. He'd pick up electrical jobs to fill six days of his week, and if there weren't enough of those jobs, he'd work the counter at the A & F Deli. Everyone knew him from somewhere he'd worked. James had worked as an apprentice on the 92nd floor for about two weeks before the attack, on a job for the insurance company Aon Corp. He reached his siblings four times on the phone before the tower collapsed. It was on the final call that he told his sister Marie to make sure his parents knew he loved them. His sister Michelle also worked at the World Trade Center, but made it out alive, covered in ash when she got home. Their father, grateful to not have lost Michelle, too, remained full of grief and anger, telling Newsday that, "as far as I'm concerned, I died with him." On the first anniversary of the attacks, Michael and their sister Jennie Susan Farrell appeared on a televised town hall meeting on NBC, determined to keep James' memory alive, and to share what a special person the world had lost. "The loss will never go away," she told Newsday, "but we should pause to celebrate life and how precious it is." A proposal to co-name this portion of 87th Street, where James grew up, in his honor passed in 2003.

Rabbi Ben Zion Bokser (1907 - 1984) was a leading figure in Conservative Judaism, a scholar, and the spiritual leader of the Forest Hills Jewish Center in Queens for 50 years. Rabbi Bokser was born in Liuboml, which was then a part of Poland, and emigrated to the United States at the age of 13 in 1920. He attended City College of New York, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and received his PhD in 1935 from Columbia University. He taught for many years as an adjunct professor of political science at Queens College, City University of New York. Bokser served as the rabbi of Forest Hills Jewish Center starting in 1933 and remained in that position for more than fifty years. He served for a two-year period as a United States Army chaplain during World War II and organized aid for Jewish soldiers. Bokser was an advocate for social justice and took a position in favor of the construction of a housing project for the poor during the Forest Hills housing controversy of 1966-1972. He fought against the death penalty in New York state. He served as a program editor for the Eternal Light, the Jewish Theological Seminary's radio program, was a professor of homiletics at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and  participated in the Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion and the Institute for Religious and Social Studies, both seminary-run programs. He was chair of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly from 1959–1960, 1963–1965, and 1980-1984. Among the books he wrote were ''Judaism and the Christian Predicament,'' a study of Jewish-Christian relations; ''Judaism: Profile of a Faith'' and ''Jews, Judaism and the State of Israel.''

Dr. Richard R. Green (1936 – 1989) was the first black New York City Schools Chancellor. He served in this capacity from March 1988 to May 1989.

Karol Rathaus (1895-1954) was a distinguished composer of orchestral and chamber music in addition to operas and film scores. Considered a child prodigy, he began writing music at age 7 and by 14 was composing for full orchestra. Rathaus was born to a Jewish family in Tarnopol, Austria, a town now part of Ukraine. After serving in the Austrian Army during World War I, he resumed his studies with Austrian composer Franz Schreker, first in Vienna and then in Berlin, where he settled and launched his professional career. By 1934, Rathaus had achieved considerable success with his varied compositions, including the score for the now-classic film, The Brothers Karamazov (1931). However, fearing the rise of Nazism and anti-Semitic violence, Rathaus fled Berlin in 1932, spending several years in Paris and then London, and continuing to compose. When he emigrated to the United States in 1938, he left behind a number of unpublished manuscripts that were destroyed in the London Blitz. Rathaus lived for a short time in Hollywood, to be near the film industry, but ultimately settled in New York in 1940. For the last 14 years of his life, Rathaus was professor of composition at Queens College, CUNY. In addition to teaching, he received numerous commissions and wrote works for the New York Philharmonic, the St. Louis Symphony and the Metropolitan Opera. He died in 1954 at the age of 59, succumbing to recurring illness and fatigue. His papers, including many music manuscripts, are housed in Queens College’s Department of Special Collections and Archives.

Teddy White was born on July 25, 1971 to Edward and Regina White, in Boulevard Gardens in Woodside, Queens. His family grew to include brothers Jimmy, Chris and Billy, and a sister, Sue. Teddy attended kindergarten at Public School 151 and then went to the Corpus Christi School for eight years. After grammar school he continued at Monsignor McClancy High School from which he graduated in 1989. On April 18, 1998 Teddy White married his lovely wife Jennifer, and a daughter, Taylor, was born to the couple on December 16, 1999. The young family bought an apartment at Boulevard Gardens and settled there. Mr. White joined the New York City Fire Department and was assigned to Engine Company 230 in Brooklyn. On September 11, 2001 Teddy White and the members of Engine Company 230 responded to the emergency brought on by the attacks on the World Trade Center. Mr. White died while attempting to save lives when the twin towers collapsed. He was survived by his wife, Jennifer, his daughter, Taylor, his parents, Edward and Regina, and four siblings.

Rep. Benjamin S. Rosenthal (D-NY) represented northeast Queens in the U.S. Congress from 1962 until his death in January 1983. Born in Manhattan, Rosenthal attended New York City public schools, Long Island University and City College before serving in the U.S. Army during WWII. He received his law degree from Brooklyn Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1949. In 1962, Rosenthal won a special election to the Eighty-Seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused when Rep. Lester Holtzman won a seat on the state Supreme Court; Rosenthal was then reelected to the 11 succeeding Congresses. During his congressional tenure, Rosenthal was an early opponent of the Vietnam War and a champion of consumer protection causes. He was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and chairman of the Subcommittee for Commerce, Consumer, and Monetary Affairs.

Patrolman Arthur Howarth (d. 1938) had served with the NYPD for 11 years when he was killed in a car crash with another police car while both were responding to an alarm. Howarth was with the 85th Precinct when he and Patrolman Angelo Favata responded to a report of a stabbing at 7:30pm on July 9, 1938. They collided with the other police car, which was also responding to the call, at the corner of Bushwick and Johnson Avenues in Brooklyn. The impact led the two cars to collide with a third car, which was parked. Howarth suffered a fractured skull, and died in the hospital an hour later. Favata, also suffering from a fractured skull, died later. The two officers in the other car, Patrolman Philip Faber and Patrolman Paul Storll, suffered injuries but survived. A man in the parked car was also injured. Howarth was 33 years old at the time of his passing. He left behind his wife, Rose, who had been in critical condition at the time following a leg amputation after the birth of their daughter a few weeks earlier. Family and police officials held a funeral procession on July 13, 1938, from the home of Howarth's mother-in-law in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to St. Columbkille Church (now Ss. Cyril & Methodius Church), after which Howarth was buried at St. John's Cemetery. Council Member Robert Holden proposed this street co-naming in June 2024, and a commemoration ceremony took place on November 16, 2024. The intersection is near where Howarth had lived, at 72-21 Calmus Avenue.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) was the 35th President of the United States (1961-1963), and the youngest man and first Roman Catholic elected to the office. On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, becoming also the youngest president to die.

Lieutenant Theodore “Teddy” Leoutsakos (ca. 1950 - 2015) was a lifelong Astoria resident and a first responder during the 9/11 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, where he was trapped when the towers collapsed. He survived the attacks and was credited with helping many survivors that day. Leoutsakos was a United States Air Force Veteran who served during the Vietnam War. He was honorably discharged when he was wounded in combat. For 24 years, he served as a New York State Court Officer and worked perimeter patrol outside of the New York County Supreme Court at 111 Centre Street in Manhattan. He was a founding member of the Fraternal Organization of Court Officers, a charitable organization that began in 1990 and has held hundreds of fundraisers helping people in need. Shortly after his retirement, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer as a result of his response to the World Trade Center and his time spent at Ground Zero.

Undated photo of the Lewis H. Latimer House

Roy Wilkins (1901-1981) was a Civil Rights activist and NAACP leader. In his early days, he became the editor of the Kansas City Call in 1923, a weekly newspaper serving the Black community of Kansas City, Missouri. He also helped organize the historic March on Washington in August 1963 and participated in the Selma-to-Montgomery marches in 1965 and the March Against Fear in Mississippi in 1966. Under Wilkins's direction, NAACP played a major role in many civil rights victories of the 1950s and 1960s, including Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act.

The following was received from Helen Day, president of the Richmond Hill Historical Society: Ivan Mrakovcic, president of the Richmond Hill Historical Society, passed away on February 27, 2020, after a valiant battle with brain cancer. Ivan was one of the founding members of the Richmond Hill Historical Society in 1997 with the late Nancy Cataldi and other like-minded individuals who looked to preserve historic Richmond Hill. Ivan loved this community and worked tirelessly in so many ways to preserve its historic character and charm, leading the charge for the historic preservation of Richmond Hill after Nancy’s passing in 2008. Ivan’s perseverance resulted in the establishment of a Historic District in North Richmond Hill on the New York State and National Historic Registers in March 2019. Ivan was much more than our president; he was our dear friend and neighbor, like a brother and definitely a kindred spirit, who will always be with us. As one of our board members said, we were so lucky to have known him and to have had him be part of our lives. That is a great testimony for anyone. Ivan left a legacy of accomplishments that will always be remembered, and we have many memories that bring a smile to our hearts.

Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920) was born in Cresson, Pennsylvania on May 6, 1856. His parents, Charles and Mary, originated from Maine. Charles died when Robert was three and Mary decided to move her only child back home to Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Peary attended Bowdoin College, joining the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, before graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1877. After college, Peary worked as a county surveyor and a cartographic draftsman. In 1881, he was selected to become one of the Navy’s first civil engineers with the rank equivalent of lieutenant (USN). His first assignment was to inspect a new iron pier being built in Key West. His following assignment, assisting the chief engineer of a canal project in Nicaragua, sparked his thirst for Arctic exploration. Perhaps his dissatisfaction with being a “workhorse” in the jungles of Central America and the inspiration of an 1886 paper “on the inland ice of Greenland,” prompted Peary to set off to explore the Arctic by way of Greenland. In May of 1886, he embarked on his journey, “making a deeper penetration of the Greenland interior than anyone before him, and discovering, once the crevasses and meltwater lakes had been passed, a truly ‘imperial highway’ for the explorer.” This would be the first of several expeditions to Greenland and the Arctic with his crowning achievement as being the first to reach the North Pole on April 6, 1909. Peary’s polar claim was disputed due to a “combination of navigational mistakes and record-keeping errors.” Still, it is universally accepted that Peary and his close friend Matthew Henson, were the first to reach the North Pole. Peary retired from the Navy with the rank of rear admiral in 1911. His publications included Northward over the “Great Ice” (1898), The North Pole (1910), and Secrets of Polar Travel (1917). Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary is credited in the Navy as being “the most famous Civil Engineer Corps officer to date.” The most prestigious exploration and research awards Peary won in his lifetime were the Cullum Geographical Medal (1896), the Charles P. Daly Medal (1902), and the Hubbard Medal (1906). In addition to his career as a naval officer and Arctic explorer, Peary was also very interested in aircraft and their “possible use for exploration and military purposes.” Peary remains an important figure not only for his Naval career or Arctic exploration but also for documenting tidal observations of the Arctic Ocean and the livelihoods of the Inuit people. However, Peary’s treatment of the Inuit and disregard for their culture remain controversial today. Upon his death in 1920, Peary was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with a “monument featuring a large, white granite globe and a bronze star pointing north marking the North Pole.” "In 1986, the U.S. Postal Service issued a set of stamps about Arctic Explorers identifying Peary as ‘one of two Civil Engineer Corps officers to be associated with a postage stamp.’”

George Upton Harvey (1881-1946) was Queens Borough President from 1928 to 1941. Born in County Galway, Ireland, the Harveys moved to Chicago when George was five years old. His father founded The International Confectioner, a trade paper, and after working there Harvey served as a correspondent and photographer for the Army and Navy journal. A captain during World War I, he commanded Company A of the 308th Infantry Regiment, 77th Division. In 1920, Harvey was appointed Assistant Director of the State Income Tax Bureau in Jamaica, New York.  Harvey began his career in electoral politics when he successfully ran for election to the Board of Aldermen in 1921 as a Republican from Queens and was re-elected in 1923. Though Harvey lost the 1925 election for President of the Board of Aldermen, a sewer scandal resulting in the ouster of Borough President Maurice Connolly vaulted Harvey into the Borough Presidency in a special election to complete Connolly’s term. Harvey was Queens’ first Republican Borough President since the 1898 consolidation of New York City. He was re-elected to this office in 1929, 1933, and 1937, serving until 1941.  Harvey was a bitter foe of the Tammany political machine at home and Communism abroad. In 1928, he initiated a major expansion of arterial highway and parkway improvements in Queens. He also played an active role in the World’s Fair at Flushing Meadow in 1939-40. In 1932 and again in 1938, he considered running for Governor but ultimately declined to do so. On April 6, 1946, Harvey died of a heart attack while helping to battle a brush fire near his home in New Milford, Connecticut.

Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson may be best known as a rap icon, but he's also helped spark a love of nature in kids growing up in his old neighborhood through this community garden. Born July 6, 1975, Jackson grew up in South Jamaica, Queens. After his mother passed away when he was eight, his father left him to his grandmother's care. Though boxing and school took up his time, he also began dealing drugs around the age of 12. While attending the now-defunct Andrew Jackson High School, he was arrested for drug and gun possession, but served time in a boot camp rather than prison. With a GED in hand, it was around this time he decided to pursue hip hop. Attempting to break through with his music—and suffering some near-death experiences that included being shot several times outside of his grandmother's old house - Jackson's career took off when Eminem and Dr. Dre signed him for a record deal that resulted in the release of his debut, Get Rich or Die Tryin', in 2003. The album's single "In da Club" hit number one on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. Jackson has since made several more albums, appeared in films and television, and developed business ventures from apparel to real estate. And in 2007, he worked to give back to the community where he grew up with an investment into the former Baisley Park Community Garden. Working with the New York Restoration Project and Bette Midler, the new Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson Community Garden is underwritten by 50 Cent’s G-Unity Foundation and reopened in 2008 following several renovations. The space now features a rainwater harvesting system for regular irrigation, a solar-powered water pump, and new garden beds. The garden has also provided new opportunities for youth encountering the criminal justice system. According to a 2016 article, teens in an alternative-to-detention program volunteered at the garden, where they built connections to both people and nature.

Firefighter Christopher J. Pickford (1969 – 2001) was born in Flushing and grew up in Kew Gardens, Queens. He died in the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Pickford attended Public School 90, Junior High School 226, Forest Hills High School, and Queens Borough Community College. Beginning in grammar school, Chris was awarded honors in creative writing and music. He was an accomplished guitarist and song writer and used these talents in several bands throughout the years. Chris worked for the Queens District Attorneys as a paralegal before being hired as a New York City Firefighter in January, 2000. He was assigned to Ladder Company 136 in Queens and was on a rotation to Engine Company 201 in Brooklyn. On September 1, 2001, Engine Company 201 was called to the World Trade Center in response to the terrorist attacks. Chris was killed along with 342 other firefighters as he helped to evacuate people who were trapped in the towers.

John Bowne (1627-1695) was an English emigrant who arrived in in New Netherland, or Vlissingen (now Flushing) in 1649. He fought against Governor Pieter Stuyvesant's edict to restrict religious freedom by allowing Quakers to meet in his home. Bowne was arrested, fined and imprisoned for months by Gov. Stuyvesant and even deported due to his religious activities, though he was later set free by the Directors of the West India Company. He returned to his home later and acquired more land, including that designated for the Flushing Quaker Meeting House and a burial ground, where he was buried upon his death in 1695. Flushing had the previous name of Flushing Creeke by the original inhabitants who lived there, the Matinecock people, part of the larger Algonquin nation. While the Matinecock people are said to have sold land to the Dutch, and possibly to Bowne as well, there was also documented violence against them prior to this, as well as a smallpox epidemic that devastated the community years later in 1652. Members of the Matinecock tribe remain in Queens today.

Paul W. Schmalzried (1966-2022) served with the FDNY for 24 years. He was born and raised in Astoria, Queens, growing up fishing, hunting, and skiing with his two older brothers. Schmalzried joined the FDNY in February of 1998, where he helped keep his community safe, received a unit citation, and became the engine chauffeur as a regular firefighter in 2003. In 2007, Schmalzried earned a promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, then the rank of Captain by May of 2021. After becoming Captain, he served as the head of CTS Chauffeur Training School where he taught others how to operate fire trucks. In 2022, Schmalzried passed away as a result of 9/11 related illness, but is remembered by his family and community as a selfless hero.

Fiorello H. LaGuardia (1882–1947) was born in New York City to immigrant parents, attended public schools and graduated from New York University Law School in 1910. After practicing law for several years, he was elected as the nation’s first Italian American member of Congress in 1916. He served as a U.S. Representative until 1919, when he resigned to join the Army Air Service and serve in World War I. Upon his return, he was president of the New York City Board of Aldermen in 1920 and 1921, and was re-elected to Congress from 1923 to 1933. LaGuardia then served as mayor of New York City from 1934 to 1945. Among LaGuardia's many achievements as mayor, he is credited with unifying and modernizing New York City's public transit system, consolidating much of the city government, cracking down on illegal gambling, and beginning transportation projects that created many of the city’s bridges, tunnels, parkways and airports. He was also instrumental in the establishment of Queens College. In September 1937, Mayor LaGuardia broke ground on this airport's site. Its construction was funded through a $45 million Federal Works Progress Administration grant. More than half of the 558 acres on which the airport was built was man-made, filled in with more than 17 million cubic yards of cinders, ashes and trash. The new airport opened in 1939 as New York City Municipal Airport. In August 1940, the Board of Estimates renamed the facility for LaGuardia, who considered the project one of his greatest achievements. Today it is the third largest airport in the New York metropolitan area.

Text courtesy of Susan Latham. This is a photo of my sister Beth and me sitting with my grandparents, Noni and B-Daddy. The second photo is a formal shot of my grandparents, Bill and Cecelia Latham. Latham Park is named after my grandfather, William Harris Latham, in recognition of his long association with Robert Moses, New York City’s master builder who was responsible for creating much of our city’s parks and transportation infrastructure. My grandfather died when I was in my early 20s, well before I fully understood who Robert Moses was and the significant impact of my grandfather’s work in New York City and New York State. My grandfather grew up in Norwich, CT, and like his father, Alan Latham, he was an avid beekeeper – which led to the name “B-Daddy,” as he was known by all of his grandchildren. The B-Daddy that I grew up with lived in Lewiston, NY, near Niagara Falls, where he worked with the New York Power Authority as the chief engineer of the Niagara Project; at the time, this was the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world. I have a vague childhood memory of seeing B-Daddy on television when he gave Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin an impromptu tour of the power plant, and I remember that my grandmother was unhappy that he was in shirt sleeves instead of a suit. Most of my experience with B-Daddy was after he retired – although he still had a lot of clout and got us free tours of the power plant, as well as free rides on the Maid of the Mist and all the Niagara Falls attractions when we visited every summer. He was a tall, strong man who loved to fish and hunt, and he was very athletic – there was a photo of him with his rowing team at MIT at my grandparents’ home. He was also an avid gardener and beekeeper, which meant we enjoyed fresh-picked vegetables and all the honey, honeycomb and honey butter we could ever want when we visited. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches were common lunch fare. It was only after he died in 1987 that I learned more about his professional career, much of it from Robert Caro’s book "The Power Broker," and more recently, from Internet searches. B-Daddy graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1926 with a degree in civil engineering. In 1927 he began working with Robert Moses – or “RM,” as B-Daddy called him – at the Long Island State Park Commission. When Moses was named Commissioner of New York City Parks, B-Daddy followed him to New York City, where he became the Consulting Park Engineer. As the head of the Division of Design, he was responsible for the preparation of all plans and specifications within the Parks Department, and he played a major role in the design and installation of the 11 New York City public pools that opened in 1936, including Astoria, McCarren, Crotona and Jackie Robinson Pools. He also worked as general superintendent and director of maintenance and operations at the New York City Parks Department, and was heavily involved in the 1939 World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows Park (somewhere, there are home movies he filmed of King George and Queen Elizabeth visiting the Fair). In the 1950s, he moved upstate to engineer the St. Lawrence Power Project, the first active power plant of the New York Power Authority, which opened in 1958. He then moved to Lewiston to oversee the construction and opening of the Niagara Power Plant. In 1987, after his death, the New York Power Authority dedicated a new icebreaker (a ship designed to break through ice blocks and create a clear passage) on the Niagara River as the Latham in his honor, citing him as a “major figure in construction of the St. Lawrence and Niagara hydroelectric projects.” I got to see it in person in 2019. I should note that I grew up in New Jersey and moved to Queens in 1989. My apartment in Woodside on 51st Street, where I lived for 11 years, and my current home in Jackson Heights on 79th Street, where I’ve lived for 20+ years, are equidistant to the original site of Latham Park, which was on 69th Street and Broadway. In fact, I passed through it many times over the years without ever realizing that it was named after B-Daddy. And then one day, my brother – who is also named William Harris Latham – found it in a Google search of his name and sent me a link, asking if I had any idea where this park was. And of course I did! Honestly, what are the odds that a girl from New Jersey whose grandfather lived in upstate New York would end up living just blocks away from a park in New York City named after him!? Of course, Robert Moses is a controversial figure. His urban renewal and highway construction projects displaced thousands of people and destroyed neighborhoods, and my grandfather’s close association with him for so many years makes me more than slightly uncomfortable. But I can’t change who he was – and I do take some pride in the fact that my grandfather had a hand in so much of New York City’s infrastructure that we rely on today.

Horace Harding (1862-1929) was born to an influential publishing family. He entered the banking world and moved up through connections on his wife's side. Harding served as a director for multiple entities including American Express and numerous railway trusts. Harding enjoyed art collecting and spent time cultivating the Frick collection. Harding was extremely influential in Long Island and supported Robert Moses' "Great Parkway Plan" to build a highway from Queens Blvd. to Shelter Rock in Nassau County. He also supported the Northern State Parkway and construction of the Long Island Expressway. His support of new roads happened to coincide with his desire for an easier pathway to his country club. Harding died at 65 from influenza and blood poisoning.

Archie Spigner (1928 - 2020) was a local politician who served for 27 years as a City Councilman for District 27 in southeast Queens, from 1974 to 2001, serving his last 15 years as deputy to the majority leader. He also served as the head of the United Democratic Club of Queens from 1970 until his death in 2020, a role in which he helped shape the borough’s Democratic Party leadership. During his tenure, he advocated for education, infrastructure, and the underserved community. Archie Hugo Spigner was born on Aug. 27, 1928, in Orangeburg, S.C., his family moved to New York when Archie was 7, and he grew up in Harlem. As a young bus driver engaged in union activism, Mr. Spigner drew the attention of the labor leader A. Philip Randolph, who charged him with forming a Queens branch of Mr. Randolph’s Negro American Labor Council. While looking for a meeting place for his group, Mr. Spigner met Mr. Kenneth N. Browne, who was running for the State Assembly, and who became the borough’s first Black member of the New York State Assembly and its first Black State Supreme Court justice. Mr. Browne took Mr. Spigner to the local Democratic club and introduced him to the district leader Guy R. Brewer, and Spigner’s career in Queens politics began. Mr. Spigner went on to attend college, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Queens College in 1972. Spigner went on to become a major power house in an area that reliably voted Democratic, a nod from Mr. Spigner all but assured election. He was known as “The Dean,” and considered “The Godfather of Politics” in southeastern Queens.  As a local-minded city councilman, Mr. Spigner helped shepherd the sale of the oft-criticized Jamaica Water Supply Company, New York City’s last privately owned waterworks, to the city government in 1997, bringing down costs for residents of southeast Queens. To spur local business, he successfully pushed for the construction of a permanent building for York College, part of the City University of New York, in the Jamaica section; a subway extension to downtown Jamaica; and a regional headquarters of the Social Security Administration.

Robert A. Van Wyck (1847-1918) was an influential political figure in New York during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in New York City, he was the son of Attorney William Van Wyck. Van Wyck began his academic pursuits at the University of North Carolina before completing his education at Columbia Law School, graduating in 1872. Initially a businessman, he transitioned to law and eventually became a city court judge in 1880. After serving as Chief Justice of New York, Van Wyck entered Democratic Party politics. Elected Mayor of New York in 1897 with the backing of Tammany Hall's Richard Croker, he oversaw the unification of the five boroughs into modern-day New York City. During his tenure, Van Wyck worked to improve the city's fragmented administrative system. Following his term, he retired to Paris, France, where he resided until his death in 1918.

Firefighter Michael D. Mullan (b. 1967) a lifelong resident of Bayside, died during fire and rescue operations at the World Trade Center following the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. He was a firefighter with Ladder Company 12, and a Nurse Corps Captain in the U.S. Army Reserves at Fort Totten in Bayside.

Frank P. LoCicero (1918-1997) lived in Bellerose, Queens from 1950 until his death. LoCicero was an active member and later president of the Bellerose Hillside Civic Association, which fought to maintain the suburban character of the neighborhood. LoCicero was born in Manhattan and studied art at Haaren High School. At age 17 he became the youngest person to have a sculpture exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Following graduation from college, he was hired by Norcross Greeting Cards as its graphic designer. During World War II, LoCicero enlisted in the U.S. Army, spending five years in Hawaii drawing aerial maps for the Army before resuming work at Norcross. He married his wife Marie in 1946 and they had two sons, Ronnie and Ricky. In 1950, the family purchased a home in Bellerose, New York, and soon after arriving, Frank became active at St. Gregory the Great Church, joining the Holy Name Society and Nocturnal Adoration Association. He also became a member of the Bellerose Hillside Civic Association, and was later voted its president. During his tenure as president, Frank led successful campaigns against undesirable projects that were proposed to be situated at the Creedmore Psychiatric Center, such as a prison and a sanitation garage. He also was responsible for editing and distributing a monthly newsletter.

Firefighter Paul Gill (1967-2001) died during fire and rescue operations following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Edward F. Guida(1924-2014), nicknamed Eddie by those who knew him, was born and raised in Corona, Queens. He was a City Marshal for 29 years and owned a family-run funeral home, the Guida Funeral Home, opened in 1909 by his Grandfather. The Corona community loved and respected him for his compassion and ethics in both jobs. He was sympathetic to all the families that mourned the deaths of their loved ones in his funeral home. His wife, Mary Guida, remembers him as "generous, loving, caring, and respectful." As Guida ran his funeral home, he was highly involved in the community of Corona, working with the Corona Lion's Club, The Latino Lawyers Association, The Italian Heritage Foundation, The American Diabetes Association, The Golden Age, and the local Precinct Council. The funeral home was also involved with the Northside Democratic Club, St. Leo's Church, and St. Leos School. He assisted in creating St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital's Queens Chapter in 1991, earning him the title of "Man of the Year." As a City Marshal, Guida would show compassion to those he needed to evict as it was part of his job. He would try to assist the people he was evicting by giving them information and showing a kind heart. Although kind, he was still "tough when he had to be," according to his wife. When Guida passed, his wife, Mary and their son, Edward Guida Jr., continued to run the funeral home. Eddie Jr. would also continue his father's City Marshal business, even taking up his badge number, #14. The intersection of 104th Street and 48th Avenue was named after him, Edward F. Guida Sr. Way, this same intersection being the location of the Guida Funeral Home.

Rory Staunton (1999-2012) was a young resident of Sunnyside Gardens and a student at the Garden School in Jackson Heights who was known for his civic responsibility, inspiring leadership and kind heart. A member of the Garden School's student council, he led the "Spread the Word to End the Word" campaign to discourage the use of the term “retarded.” Staunton tragically died of sepsis after a minor sports injury at the age of 12. Following his death, the Staunton family founded the End Sepsis organization to increase sepsis awareness and advocate for mandatory sepsis protocols in hospitals.

Rufus King (1755-1827) was a distinguished lawyer, statesman and gentleman farmer. The son of a wealthy lumber merchant from Maine, King graduated from Harvard in 1777, served in the Revolutionary War in 1778, and was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts in 1780. He was a member of the Confederation Congress from 1784 to 1787, where he introduced a plan that prevented the spread of slavery into the Northwest Territories. King was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and made his most famous contribution to American history as a framer and signer of the U.S. Constitution. After his marriage to Mary Alsop in 1786, King relocated to New York and was appointed to the first U.S. Senate, serving from 1789 to 1796 and again from 1813 to 1825. An outspoken opponent of slavery, he led the Senate debates in 1819 and 1820 against the admission of Missouri as a slave state. King served as Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain from 1796 to 1803 and again from 1825 to 1826. In 1816 he was the last Federalist to run for the presidency, losing the election to James Monroe. The earliest part of the King Manor building dates to the mid-1700s. In 1805 Rufus King purchased the farmhouse and a 90-acre farm for $12,000. He planted orchards, fields and some of the stately oak trees that still survive near the house. King added the eastern section of the house and a summer kitchen, and introduced Georgian and Federal design elements, such as the dining room with its curved end wall and the neoclassical marble fireplace in the parlor. By the time of Rufus King’s death in 1827, the estate had grown to 122 acres. King’s eldest son John Alsop King lived here and updated the house with Greek Revival details, such as the entrance portico. Cornelia King, granddaughter of Rufus, was the last family member to occupy the house. After her death in 1896, the house and the remaining 11 acres were bought by the Village of Jamaica, and the property came under the jurisdiction of the Parks Department in 1898. King Manor has operated as a museum since 1900 under the care of the King Manor Association of Long Island, Inc. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the house and park are designated New York City landmarks. King Manor Museum is open on a regular basis for tours, educational programs and community events.

Charles J. Vallone (1902-1967) was a judge on the Queens County Civil Court. He received his law degree from Fordham University in 1928 and went into private practice until being appointed to fill a vacancy on the court by Mayor Robert F. Wagner in 1955. He was then re-elected twice to the post, serving until his death in 1967. A number of Vallone's descendants have continued in public service, including his son Peter, a New York City Council member from 1974 to 2001, and grandsons Peter Jr. and Paul, both of whom have served as Council members from Queens.

Mike Crowley (1936-2007) was a founding member and president of the Jackson Heights Beautification Group (JHBG). Under his leadership, JHBG landmarked Jackson Heights as a historic district, operated the first ever community based anti-graffiti program in the City, established the JHBG Architectural and Good Neighbor Awards, the JHBG Halloween Parade, the garden club, created the Friends of Travers Park, operated Town Hall Meetings and Candidates Nights and created the publication of a community newsletter.

Arthur Hammerstein (1872 - 1955) was an American producer, songwriter, dramatist, playwright and theater manager. Hammerstein was born in New York City to theater impresario and composer Oscar Hammerstein I. In 1908 Arthur started working on becoming a producer, and in 1910 embarked on his first production, the operetta “Naughty Marietta.”  Arthur's brother Willie Hammerstein died in June 1914, and Arthur took over management of the family's Victoria Theater; however, the theater was not financially viable and closed the next year. Hammerstein went on to produce almost 30 musicals in 40 years in show business including Rudolf Friml operettas, and collaborations with his nephew, Oscar Hammerstein II, who went on to fame as part of the team Rodgers and Hammerstein. Hammerstein built what is today the Ed Sullivan Theater, which he operated from 1927 to 1931. In 1924, Hammerstein built an expansive home for his bride, actress Dorothy Dalton in Beechhurst, a neighborhood in Whitestone, Queens - bordered by the East River and the Cross Island Parkway. During the era of silent movies, Beechurst was a go-to location for famous stars including actress Mary Pickford, nicknamed “America’s Sweetheart” during the silent film era, as well as the Marx Brothers and W.C. Fields. He named the neo-Tudor home, designed by architect Dwight James Baum, “Wildflower Estate,” after his longest-running play. Hammerstein did not enjoy Wildflower long; in 1930 he had to sell it to support his theater operations. It became a yacht club and, and later a restaurant “Ripples on the Water,” which closed in the 1980s. The house was designated a landmark in 1982. The home was nearly destroyed by arson in 1994, then sat abandoned and empty for a number of years. The house was fully restored in 2000, and now is part of the Wildflower Estates condominiums. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. (1943-1993) was born in Richmond, Virginia, and began playing tennis at the age of 10. In 1966 he graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles, where he won the United States Intercollegiate Singles Championship and led his team to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship. At the 1968 U.S. Open, Ashe defeated several competitors to win the men’s singles title. By 1975, he was ranked the number-one tennis player in the U.S. After this string of athletic successes, he began suffering heart problems. Retiring from the sport, he underwent heart surgery in 1979 and again in 1983. During one of his hospital stays, Ashe was likely given an HIV-tainted blood transfusion and he soon contracted AIDS. Despite his illness, he remained involved in public life. His participation in many youth activities, such as the National Junior Tennis League and the ABC Cities Tennis Program, and his role in protests against South African apartheid earned Ashe recognition as 1992 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, long after his athletic career had ended. He died of pneumonia in New York at age 49.

Hortense Powdermaker was one of the original members of Queens College’s faculty. She was born into a middle-class Jewish family in Philadelphia, earned a B.A. in history from Goucher College in 1919 and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of London in 1928. The following year, she became the first woman anthropologist to live alone among the Melanesians of New Ireland in Papua New Guinea; she published her study of the experience, Life in Lesu, in 1933. For periods in 1932-1934, Powdermaker lived in Indianola, Mississippi, examining its Black and white communities and their interactions. Her book, After Freedom (1939), is still notable for its insightful analysis of race relations and of the impact of psychological adaptations to segregation. Powdermaker joined Queens College upon its opening in 1937 and founded the departments of anthropology and sociology. During her 30-year teaching career at Queens, she continued to conduct research and published highly influential books on racism (Probing Our Prejudices, 1944) and the social structure of the American filmmaking industry (Hollywood: The Dream Factory, 1950). Her final book, Stranger and Friend: The Way of an Anthropologist, was published in 1966 as a candid examination of her fieldwork experiences and the appropriate role of the anthropologist and social scientist. She retired from Queens College in 1968 and was undertaking a study of youth culture in Berkeley when she died in 1970. Powdermaker Hall was built in 1962 as the Social Science Building, sometimes called Academic I. In 1977, it was renamed to honor Powdermaker. The building is home to the college’s departments of anthropology and sociology, along with its School of Education. The Hortense Powdermaker Papers are housed in the college library’s Department of Special Collections and Archives.

Patrolman Joseph L. Rauchut (1924-1957) was assigned to Motorcycle Precinct 2, now known as Highway 2, when he was killed in the line of duty during a vehicle stop. Born December 14, 1924, Rauchut served with the United States Army during World War II and was a prisoner of war before joining the NYPD on July 1, 1955. He served the 79th Precinct until January 19, 1957, next joining the Motorcycle Precinct On the morning of November 30, 1957, Rauchut pulled over a car at the Brooklyn end of the Kosciusko Bridge. He told the driver to get back into his car, apparently joking that there was no need for them both to be killed while he wrote out the summons. Soon after, a truck hit Rauchut's patrol car, which then struck him. He later died of his injuries at Elmhurst General Hospital. He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and their three young children, Joseph Jr., Jeanette, and Richard. Council Member Robert Holden proposed co-naming this street, near the site of the fatal crash, in Rauchut's honor in 2023. A ceremony to dedicate the street was held on December 14, 2024.

Lt. Mario Bastidas served as a paramedic for 26 years and then a Lt. Paramedic in the FDNY Emergency Medical Service Command. He responded to the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and spent countless hours at the World Trade Center in rescue and recovery efforts. He was exposed to toxins that later developed into an aggressive form of cancer, where he succumbed in April 2017.

Samuel Jayson LeFrak (1918-2003) was a major real estate developer of middle-income housing in the post-World War II era. He led the LeFrak Organization (originally spelled Lefrak and pronounced le-FRAK) for more than four decades in building apartments and homes both in and around the New York City area, while later leading successful ventures in other businesses, including oil and gas exploration, and entertainment. Among his most iconic ventures was LeFrak City, an apartment development in southeastern Corona that was built from 1962 to 1971. The community offers 4,600 units and is home to about 15,000 New Yorkers. LeFrak was born on February 12, 1918, in Manhattan to Harry LeFrak, who migrated from France, and Sarah (Schwartz) LeFrak, originally of Belarus. He grew up in Brooklyn, attending Erasmus High School in Flatbush, and he graduated from the University of Maryland in 1940. That same year, he began working full time in his family’s business, and he later studied finance at Columbia University and the Harvard Business School. In 1941, he married Ethel Stone, who attended Barnard College. Harry LeFrak launched the LeFrak Organization as a construction company in 1905 and was joined a few years later in running the business by his father, Aaron, who had been an architect and builder in France. Samuel LeFrak took over as president of the company in 1948, eventually ceding that role to his son, Richard, in 1975, while retaining the title of chairman. Recognizing the growing need for affordable middle-income housing in New York City after World War II, LeFrak devoted his life and career to meeting that demand. Under his leadership, the LeFrak Organization specialized in building six-story apartment buildings featuring two-bedroom and two-bathroom apartments. He used what he called the “Four S Principles” when designing and building—that properties should be safe, and close to subways, shopping, and schools. During his lifetime, his company built nearly 200,000 rental units in New York’s five boroughs and the greater metropolitan area. He was knowledgeable in housing and energy technology, serving in an advisory role to New York City mayors, New York governors, and U.S. presidents. He served on key national and state councils and also represented the U.S. internationally, advising various countries on land development. LeFrak later ventured into the music business, co-founding a recording label called The Entertainment Company, and working with artists such as Dolly Parton, Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand, and Glen Campbell, before that business broke up in 1984. A philanthropist of considerable means, he left a lasting mark on the cultural and educational landscape, with numerous buildings and spaces bearing his and his wife’s names. Among these many sites are the Samuel J. and Ethel LeFrak Concert Hall, located at the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College, and the Queens Public Library at Lefrak City. He received numerous honorary doctorates, including recognition from Pratt Institute, New York Law School, Colgate University, Michigan State University, Queens College, St. John’s University, and the University of Maryland. LeFrak died from complications of a stroke on April 16, 2003, at his home in Manhattan. He was survived at the time by his wife, Ethel (who died in 2013), their children, Denise, Richard, Francine, and Jacqueline, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. A part of the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, the 489-seat Samuel J. and Ethel LeFrak Concert Hall is located at 153-49 Reeves Avenue in Flushing.

Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968) was a lawyer and politician who served in the administration of his brother, President John F. Kennedy, as attorney general and a key presidential advisor from 1961 to 1963. In that time, Robert fought organized crime and was an instrumental supporter of the Civil Rights movement. He left the administration in 1964, the year following President Kennedy’s assassination. From 1965 to 1968, Robert represented New York in the U.S. Senate, where he continued to advocate for human rights and the economically disadvantaged, while opposing racial discrimination and the nation’s deepening involvement in the Vietnam War. On June 5, 1968, while campaigning in Los Angeles for the Democratic presidential nomination, Kennedy was shot several times by gunman Sirhan Sirhan. He died the following day at age 42. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, Robert was the seventh of nine children born to businessman and financier Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose (Fitzgerald) Kennedy, the daughter of the mayor of Boston. After serving in the navy in World War II, Robert graduated from Harvard in 1948 and earned his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1951. In 1950, he married Ethel Skakel, and the couple had eleven children together. Following law school, Robert joined the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, leaving in 1952 to manage his brother John’s successful campaign for the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts. In 1953, Robert was an assistant counsel to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, headed by Joseph R. McCarthy, but left the position because of his opposition to unjust investigative tactics. In 1957, he began to help investigate corruption in trade unions as Chief Counsel for the Senate Rackets Committee, resigning in 1960 to help run his brother’s presidential campaign. Robert is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, adjacent to the gravesite of President Kennedy. Robert F. Kennedy Community High School is located at 75-40 Parsons Boulevard in Flushing. Other locations in Queens also named in recognition of his public service are Robert F. Kennedy Hall on the campus of Queensborough Community College and Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (formerly the Triborough Bridge).

Dayananda Saraswati (1824 - 1883) was an Indian philosopher, social leader, and founder of the Arya Samaj, a reform movement of Hinduism. He was an advocate of returning to the Vedas, the earliest scriptures of India, as the sole source of religious authority. Dayananda was born into a wealthy Brahmin family in Tankara, Gujarat. As a young man, he left home to searching for religious truth. He spent the next 15 years traveling throughout India, studying the Vedas and engaging in religious debates. In 1860, Dayananda founded the Arya Samaj in Bombay (now Mumbai). The Arya Samaj's mission was to reform Hinduism and to promote social progress. Dayananda's teachings are based on the principal that the Vedas are the authoritative source of religious and moral truth. He was a proponent of abandoning idolatry and superstition, the equality of all people regardless of caste or gender in the eyes of God, education as essential for both men and women, and the eradication of “untouchability” (caste) & child marriage. Dayananda traveled extensively throughout India, giving lectures and spreading his teachings. He also wrote several books, including the Satyarth Prakash, which is a comprehensive exposition of his religious and social views. He also practiced Hatha Yoga. Dayananda's teachings had a profound impact on Indian society. The Arya Samaj played a major role in the social and religious reform movements of the 19th century. Dayananda's ideas also inspired many of the leaders of the Indian independence movement. Many unsuccessful assassination attempts were made on Dayananda’s life, and he died under circumstances suggesting that he may have been poisoned. The street named in Dayananda’s honor is in front of Arya Samaj Gurukul, a gurukul is an education center where students study with their guru (teacher).