By COLlive reporter
Howard Golden, the longtime Borough President of Brooklyn who was Jewish, passed away on Wednesday, 14 Shevat 5784. He was 98.
Golden was born in Flatbush on November 6, 1925, and grew up in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, and Bensonhurst, where he attended public schools. His father ran a delicatessen.
He graduated from Stuyvesant High School and New York University before attending Brooklyn Law School on the G.I. Bill, graduating in 1958. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and was part of the Normandy Invasion on June 6, 1944.
His political career began when he was elected to the New York City Council for the Borough Park section of Brooklyn. He served from January 1970 until his resignation in December 1976 to run as Borough President.
Known as one of the most powerful Democratic politicians in New York, he served as Borough President from 1977 through the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001. Term limits barred him from running for reelection, and he was succeeded by Marty Markowitz.
He was also in office when the Crown Heights Riots broke out in August 1991. Blacks violently attacked Jewish Chassidic residents in Crown Heights. Yankel Rosenbaum, who was visiting from Australia, was murdered.
Among the many initiatives created in the aftermath of the pogrom was the Crown Heights Coalition formed by Golden with individuals from the neighborhood’s Jewish, Black, and Caribbean communities.
In February 1989, Golden and City Council member Noach Dear joined mayoral candidate David Dinkins to meet the Rebbe at 770 Eastern Parkway. A few months later, Golden returned to 770 to receive a blessing and a dollar for charity from the Rebbe on 15 Sivan 5749.
In the archives of JEM, Golden is seen in a photo at a gathering at 770 on 20 Tishrei 5738. He is sitting alongside the chassidim Rabbi Peretz Mochkin and Rabbi Dovid Raskin OBM, and Director of Lubavitch Youth Organization, Rabbi Shmuel Butman.
Golden was also responsible for the revival of downtown Brooklyn, with the opening of the Brooklyn Marriott Hotel and Metrotech, as well as the upgrades in Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the New York Aquarium in Coney Island.
“There are some 90 languages spoken in this borough,” Golden once proudly told reporter Hana Levi Julian of the Jewish Press. “It’s the most populous borough in the city; in fact, Brooklyn itself was a city until it became part of New York City in 1898. Brooklyn is an amazing mosaic.”
He is survived by Aileen, daughters Michele and Dana, and grandchildren Jamie and Andrew.
Baruch Dayan Haemes.
He was a mentch!