Carol Greitzer, a trailblazing City Council member who fought for women\u2019s rights and played a key role in dismantling the entrenched Tammany Hall political machine in New York, died on April 3. She was 101.<\/p>\n
Greitzer died at her Greenwich Village home on W. 12th St., where she had lived for nearly 67 years. Her daughter Elizabeth Greitzer reported her mother\u2019s passing in an email to friends.<\/p>\n
Greitzer was a co-founder in 1956 of the Village Independent Democrats<\/a>, a Greenwich Village-based, Democratic political club bent on party reform.<\/p>\n In 1961, running for female Democratic district leader, she teamed with James Lanigan, as her male co-district leader running mate, to defeat the entrenched Tammany Hall machine and and its powerful leader, Carmine DeSapio, whose influence reached far beyond the Village as a kingmaker in national politics.<\/p>\n Two years later, Ed Koch, running for male district leader<\/a>, replaced Lanigan on the ticket with Greitzer and they defeated De Sapio\u2019s comeback bid in 1963<\/a> by a razor-thin margin. The Daily News reported on its Sept. 6, 1963, front page how the victorious duo had \u201cthwarted\u201d DeSapio\u2019s comeback, with the snappy headline: \u201cDe S Misses.\u201d<\/p>\n Greitzer went on to make history in 1969 when she became Manhattan\u2019s first female elected Council member, winning the downtown seat Koch had previously held after he was elected to Congress. She went on to represent the 2nd Council District for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n Greitzer played a key role in local affairs, saving the Village\u2019s Jefferson Market Courthouse from demolition and ensuring Washington Square Park was permanently closed to car and bus traffic. She battled Robert Moses\u2019 efforts to bulldoze highways through the Village.<\/p>\n Greitzer was a fierce advocate for women\u2019s rights. She was the first president of NARAL Pro-Choice America<\/a>. She got involved with abortion rights after reading an article in the Times Magazine about a California woman involved with the issue.<\/p>\n Greitzer introduced the first bills in New York State banning sex discrimination in housing and places of public accommodation and intervened on girl students\u2019 behalf to allow them to use the gym at Stuyvesant High School.<\/p>\n On a lighter note, as district leader, Greitzer campaigned with Robert Kennedy in his 1964 Senate race and, according to her, \u201ctaught him how to eat a slice of pizza in front of the crowd.\u201d Long before Bill de Blasio\u2019s culinary blunder, RFK embarrassingly asked for a fork<\/a> to eat a New York slice. RFK\u2019s aides denied it.<\/p>\n In later years, Greitzer remained active in the community.<\/p>\n An expert on Edgar Allan Poe, she fought to stop NYU from demolishing the Poe House, on Third St., where the master of the macabre wrote \u201cThe Cask of Amontillado\u201d and revised and published \u201cThe Raven.\u201d As a member of the Union Square Community Coalition, she advocated to keep the Union Square Pavilion from being converted into a high-end restaurant. Both efforts failed.<\/p>\n Greitzer was born in downtown Manhattan on Jan. 3, 1925, and grew up in the Bronx. She went to Hunter High School and Hunter College, where she received a B.A. in journalism, and to NYU<\/a>, where she received her master\u2019s in English.<\/p>\n She married Herman Greitzer, an attorney, in 1949 and they had one daughter, Elizabeth. They divorced in 1965. She was then married to Joshua Vogel, also an attorney, from 1990 until his death in 2018.<\/p>\n On Jan. 3, 2025, in honor of Greitzer\u2019s 100th birthday, then-District 2 Councilmember Carlina Rivera<\/a> presented her with a Council proclamation at her Village home.<\/p>\n \u201cManhattan, and all of New York City, is a better place because of Carol Greitzer,\u201d Rivera said. \u201cA trailblazer, an advocate and a leader, Carol\u2019s work for women\u2019s rights, the LGBTQIA+ community, historic preservation and social justice continues to inspire generations of New Yorkers. We are incredibly proud to celebrate her 100th birthday, her service to the public and the lasting legacy she has created in our city.\u201d<\/p>\n