In honor of Black History Month 2025, this collection spotlights individuals featured in the Queens Name Explorer whose names carry historical significance. From outspoken ministers to pioneering musicians to female leaders in public service, this small sampling provides a glimpse into the histories of Elmhurst, Corona, Flushing, St. Albans, Jamaica, Hollis, and Kew Garden Hills. This collection coincides with an exhibit running from January 30 to April 20, 2025 at Culture Lab LIC, 5-25 46th Avenue, Queens, NY 11101.

Remsen Hall on the campus of Queens College

Henry Waichaitis (1919 – 1982) was a community leader in Broad Channel, who lived on West 20th Road. Born in Maspeth, Waichaitis was a veteran of World War II and a United States Merchant Marine. After the war, he moved to Broad Channel where he met and married Helen Hutchinson, and started a career as a civil servant in the Department of Sanitation. His love of the Broad Channel community prompted him to become involved with the local Democratic Club, of which he would later serve as president. He joined and revitalized the Broad Channel Volunteer Fire Department, where he worked his way up the ranks to Chief and was responsible for the acquisition of the first volunteer ambulance on the Island. He was Chief of the department from 1960 to 1963. He also served as President of the Civic Association, and became the first Chairman of Community Board 14.

David Norman Dinkins (1927-2020), the first Black mayor of New York City, was inaugurated on January 1, 1990 and served until January 31, 1993. Dinkins was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and grew up in Trenton and Harlem. After graduating from high school, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps, earning the Congressional Gold Medal. He earned an undergraduate degree at Howard University, then attended Brooklyn Law School, graduating in 1956. He practiced law privately from 1956 to 1975. He represented the 78th District in the New York State Assembly in 1966, and served as president of the New York City Board of Elections from 1972 to 1973. He served as a city clerk for ten years. On his third run, he was elected Manhattan borough president in 1985, serving until 1989. Elected the 106th mayor of New York City on November 7, 1989, Dinkins defeated three-term incumbent mayor Ed Koch and two other challengers in the Democratic primary and Republican nominee Rudy Giuliani in the general election. Economic decline and racial tensions, including the Crown Heights riot of 1991, led to Dinkins's defeat by Republican Rudy Giuliani in the 1993 election. Dinkins was a professor of professional practice at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs from 1994 until his death, served on numerous boards, and remained active in Democratic politics. Highlights of his administration included the cleanup of Times Square, the Beacon Schools program, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, and the "Safe Streets, Safe City" plan. Dinkins was responsible for several initiatives that continue to bring significant revenue to New York City: the 99-year lease signed with the USTA National Tennis Center for the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, Fashion Week, Restaurant Week, and Broadway on Broadway.

Arthur O’Meally (1935-2022) dedicated over 40 years to volunteering and service in his community. He was an active member of the North Flushing Civic Association and the Flushing chapter of the NAACP. He was deeply committed to preserving historical sites and green spaces in New York. As a trustee of the Queens Historical Society, he served as vice president of operations. He was a certified Citizen Pruner for the NYC Parks Department and helped care for the Wyckoff-Snediker and Moore-Jackson cemeteries, two of the oldest burial sites in Queens. For his preservation work, he was honored with a Declaration of Honor from then-Queens Borough President Claire Shulman in 1999 and a Civic Achievement Award in 2005 during Black History Month. O’Meally was born at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica, New York, to Gladys L. and Vernon Edward O'Meally. Edward, was born in the British West Indies and worked as a porter after coming to the city. Arthur was drafted in 1958 to serve in the U.S. Army, where he served in the 1st Missile Battalion, 39th Artillery, attaining the rank of Specialist 4. He was stationed in Mainz, Germany, during the Cold War. When he returned to the states, he dated Millicent Chisolm, whom he married in 1961. They remained married for over 55 years. Arthur worked at York Industries, where he was eventually promoted to plant manager. The family moved from Jamaica, Queens and purchased a home in Flushing in 1976. Millicent O’Meally also has a long history of devoted community service, having served as a member of Queens Community Board 7 for 36 years before retiring in 2024, and as a member of the Flushing NAACP.

Kurt Richard Schmeller (1937-2022) was a historian, professor, and executive-level college administrator. He served as president of Queensborough Community College in Bayside from 1966 to 1999 and is among the longest-serving college presidents in the United States. Schmeller presided over a period of historic growth and change at Queensborough. Over his 32-year tenure, he established a strong business and technical curriculum, created programs in electrical and computer engineering, attracted new funders, and doubled enrollment to more than 10,000 students. Schmeller was born in Johnson City, New York, to parents Rudolph F. Schmeller, a civilian employee of the U.S. Army who later worked for a shoe manufacturer, and his German-born mother, Liska L. Schmeller, who worked for a department store. The second of three siblings, he moved with his family to Munich in 1947, where the Schmellers made their home before returning to upstate New York in 1953. He graduated from Binghamton Central High School in Binghamton, New York, going on to receive an undergraduate degree in European history from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, in 1959, and a Ph.D. in modern European history from Princeton University in 1962. While working as an assistant to the president and as a history professor at Wisconsin State University, he met his future wife, Beata (Sowka) Schmeller, a native of Stevens Point, Wisconsin. In 1967, at the age of 29, Schmeller was named as Queensborough Community College’s third president. He and Beata moved to Glen Cove, New York, where they made their home. During his presidency, Schmeller upheld academic standards while advocating for giving students who did not meet typical admission standards a chance to attend college. In response, Queensborough’s College Discovery Program launched strong support efforts, including counseling, remedial courses, tutoring, and other academic assistance. In 1969, Schmeller blocked the reappointment of English professor Dr. Ronald Silberman, an openly Marxist scholar, citing budget cuts. Some critics argued Schmeller’s decision was politically motivated, and the act resulted in a period of student protests around this issue and other pressing societal and cultural tensions. Despite these early challenges, Schmeller oversaw many changes at the College, including the construction of nine new buildings, and the founding of the Queensborough Community College Art Gallery, the Holocaust Center (now the Kupferberg Holocaust Center), and the Port of Entry program. The first of its kind in the U.S., this program was designed to enhance cultural orientation for international students at Queensborough, particularly those from China. In addition to his work for the College, Schmeller was active in local community affairs, serving as chairman of the board of The Flushing Cemetery Association, as well as chairman of the City of Glen Cove School Board, and as president of Queens Council of the Boy Scouts of America. At the time of his death in 2022, he was survived by his wife, Beata, their three children, Rudolph, Sylvie, and Jesse, and four grandchildren. The main campus library at Queensborough Community College, located at 22-05 56th Avenue, was named in his honor as the Kurt R. Schmeller Library.

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." While Guida ran his funeral home, he was also 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.

Captain Malcolm A. Rafferty (1861 - 1903) was a hero of the Battle of San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War. A Long Island City native, he returned home after the war and worked for the Barber Asphalt Company. He died of malaria in Trinidad in 1903.

Sgt. Jose Gomez (1982-2006) died at the age of 23 on April 27, 2006, in Baghdad, Iraq. He was three months into his second tour of duty with the 10th Cavalry, 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during combat operations. According to Maj. Gen. Bill Grisoli, Gomez moved his vehicle forward after the explosion to save and protect fellow soldiers in the convoy. Born in the Dominican Republic, Gomez came to Corona, Queens at age three. He graduated from Newtown High School in Elmhurst, where he was a member of the track team. His dream was to attend college, study mathematics, and become an accountant. He enlisted in the army in 2000 to finance his education. In 2003, he tragically lost his fiancée and fellow officer, Ana Laura Esparza-Gutierrez, to a similar roadside bomb attack. During his service, Jose earned numerous honors, including the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

James B. Colgate (1818-1904) was the son of multimillionaire William Colgate, founder of Colgate Soap Company – now known as Colgate-Palmolive. James started a New York Stock Exchange brokerage firm in 1852. During his lifetime, Colgate donated over a million dollars to Madison University in Hamilton, NY., which was later renamed Colgate University in his honor. With this he supported the construction of various buildings and the university’s endowment fund. Upon his death, he left money to the Baptist Educational Society in New York.

Dr. Gregory Razran (1901-1973) was a psychology professor at Queens College from 1940 to 1972, serving as department chair for much of that time (1944-1966). Born in present-day Belarus, he was considered a leading authority on Russian psychological research, especially during the Soviet era. Razran came to the U.S. in 1920 and studied at Columbia University, receiving his Ph.D. in 1933. He continued at Columbia as a lecturer and research associate until joining the newly established Queens College. During World War II, he also served as a statistical consultant to the U.S. Office of Strategic Services. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1948, and in 1952, took a leave from Queens College to help establish the psychology department at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In addition to his teaching and research at Queens, Razran was co-chair of the International Pavlovian Conference on Higher Nervous Activity in 1961, and published "Mind in Evolution: An East-West Synthesis of Learned Behavior and Cognition" in 1971. Razran retired from Queens College in 1972 to St. Petersburg, Fla., and tragically drowned there the following year. At the time of his death, he was Distinguished Professor at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. His papers are housed at the Archives of the History of American Psychology at the University of Akron (Ohio). Razran Hall was erected in 1970 as the New Science Facility and renamed to honor Dr. Razran in 1994. Among other purposes, the building houses laboratories for the department of psychology.

Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911) was a newspaper editor and publisher who helped to establish the model for modern journalism. One of the most influential journalists in the United States, he campaigned against corruption and abuse of power in government and business while championing the interests of working people. In the 1890s, fierce rivalry between William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Pulitzer’s New York World led both newspapers to rely on sensationalized reporting to capture public attention, a practice that became known as yellow journalism. Later in his career and through his will, Pulitzer provided funds for the establishment of Columbia University’s School of Journalism, which opened in 1912, and created the Pulitzer Prizes, awarded annually since 1917 to honor excellence in journalism, literature, and the arts. He was born in Makó, Hungary, to Philip Pulitzer, a grain merchant, and Elize (Berger) Pulitzer. Educated by tutors and in private schools, Pulitzer grew up in Budapest. Philip’s death in 1858 brought financial hardship to the family, and, in 1864, Joseph came to the United States to fight for the Union Army during the Civil War. He moved to St. Louis in 1868, where he began working as a reporter on the Westliche Post, a German-language newspaper. By 1878, he had gained control of two newspapers, the Post and the Dispatch, merging them to form the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. That same year, he married Kate Davis; the couple had seven children, five of whom survived to adulthood. In 1883, ill health brought Pulitzer to New York City, where he purchased The World newspaper (aka The New York World) from financier Jay Gould. Under Pulitzer’s leadership, the paper achieved the largest circulation in the country. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for New York State in 1884, where he served one year of his term. In 1890, due to failing health, he stepped down from the paper’s editorship but continued to oversee its editorial direction. Pulitzer died on October 29, 1911, while aboard his yacht in Charleston Harbor, SC. Built in 1954 and named in Pulitzer’s honor, I.S. 145 Joseph Pulitzer Magnet School of Innovation and Applied Learning is located in Jackson Heights at 33-34 80th Street.

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Sean McDonald (1968-1994) was a rookie police officer killed in the line of duty at the age of 26 when he interrupted the armed robbery of a Bronx tailor shop. Officer McDonald grew up in Astoria, after coming from Dublin as an infant. He had attended Most Precious Blood Grammar School, located next door to the church.

Cathay Williams (1844-1893) was born in Independence, Missouri. Her mother was a slave and her father was free. She worked as a house slave on the Johnson plantation on the outskirts of Jefferson City, Missouri. In 1861, Union forces occupied Jefferson City during the early stages of the Civil War. Like other captured slaves, she was designated as contraband and served as an Army cook and washerwoman. In this role, she accompanied the infantry all over the country. Williams served under the service of General Philip Sheridan and witnessed the Red River Campaign and the Battle of Pea Ridge. She enlisted voluntarily when she was 17 in 1866. Because of the prohibition against women serving in the military, she enlisted as a man, under the name of "William Cathay". Williams was assigned to the 38th U.S. Infantry Regiment for three years. Due to health issues, a surgeon finally discovered she was a woman and informed the post commander. She was honorably discharged by her commanding officer, Captain Charles E. Clarke, on October 14, 1868. She then signed up with an emerging all-black regiment that would eventually become part of the legendary Buffalo Soldiers. Following her discharge, Williams worked as a cook and seamstress. She had a troubled marriage and had her husband arrested after he stole her money and a team of horses. It was during this time that her story first became public. A reporter from St. Louis heard rumors of a female African-American who had served in the army and came to interview her. Her life and military service narrative was published in the St. Louis Daily Times on January 2, 1876. Suffering from neuralgia and diabetes, she was denied a military pension in 1893. The exact date of her death is unknown, but it is believed she died shortly after she was denied.

Conrad Poppenhusen (1818-1883), entrepreneur and philanthropist, was born in Hamburg, Germany on April 1, 1818. After working for a whalebone merchant as a whalebone purchaser in Europe, Poppenhusen moved to the United States in 1843 to set up a whalebone processing plant on the Brooklyn waterfront. In 1852 he obtained a license from Charles Goodyear to manufacture hard rubber goods, and then moved his firm to a farming village in what is now Queens. Poppenhusen is credited with creating the Village of College Point, which was formed in 1870 when it incorporated the neighborhoods of Flammersburg and Strattonport. In order to accommodate his factory workers he initiated numerous developments; including the establishment of housing, the First Reformed Church, and construction of streets.. In 1868, he opened the Flushing and North Side Railroad, which connected the town to New York City. In that same year he also founded the Poppenhusen Institute, which was comprised of a vocational high school and the first free kindergarten in the United States, and is the oldest school in Queens today. After Poppenhusen retired in 1871, his family lost much of its fortune due to the financial mismanagement by his three sons. Conrad Poppenhusen died in College Point on December 12, 1883.

Seymour “Sy” Seplowe was a community activist and youth advocate. He was born in the Bronx, served in World War II, then settled in northeastern Queens during the early 1950s. Seplowe organized the Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade and, in 1953, founded the Little Neck-Douglaston Youth Club, an organization of 1,200 members dedicated to providing community youth with athletic opportunities. Seplowe was also a founding member of Community Board 11 and the president of the Little Neck-Douglaston Community Council. Throughout his life, Seplowe worked to promote baseball, and served as the Little League administrator for School District 26 for 35 years. In 1951, the City of New York acquired the land adjacent to P.S. 94 and constructed a park for the school’s use. The City named the new park in honor of Seplowe. In 1985, Parks renamed the property Admiral Park; however, the playground within the park continues to be known as Sy Seplowe Playground.

Ethel Cuff Black (1890 – 1977) was an American educator and one of the founders of Delta Sigma Theta sorority at Howard University. On the eve of Woodrow Wilson's first inauguration in March 1913, she and the Delta Sigma Theta sisters marched, with thousands of others, in the National Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington, D.C. In 1930, she became the first Black teacher at P.S. #108 in Richmond Hill, Queens, and taught in Queens until her retirement in 1957.

Gordon Parks (1912 - 2006) was one of the best-known photographers of the twentieth century. He was the first African American photographer for Life and Vogue magazines. He did groundbreaking work for the FAS (Farm Security Administration) and left behind an exceptional body of work that documents American life and culture from the early 1940s into the 2000s, with a focus on race relations, poverty, civil rights, and urban life. Parks also published books on the art and craft of photography, books of poetry, which he illustrated with his own photographs, and wrote three volumes of memoirs. He pursued movie directing and screenwriting, working at the helm of the films The Learning Tree based on his semi-autobiographical novel, and Shaft. In addition, Parks was a founding member of Essence Magazine, and served as its first editorial director.

George Washington Carver (1864-1943) was well-known for being ahead of his time in the world of natural science. He sought to find cash crop alternatives to discourage straining labor of cotton picking. In addition, he invented tools and methods to make agriculture more efficient. As a Black man born in the early 1860s, Carver faced significant barriers to obtaining his education and pursuing his research interests. He developed his understanding of agricultural labor for three years on his own plot of land before becoming the first Black student at Iowa State University. After graduating Iowa State in 1896 with a Master of Science Degree, he went on to teach agriculture at Tuskegee Institute. Carver taught for 47 years passing down lessons such as crop rotation and other farmer techniques. Carver was a prodigy in learning, specifically curious as to the different uses of produce like peanuts, and the invention of new products. His many contributions include glue, the Jesup Wagon, a vehicle to carry agricultural exhibits to town, instant coffee, shaving cream, and 325 uses for peanuts. George Washington Carver High School for the Sciences in particular was established after the closing of Springfield High School by the NYC school board in 2007. Springfield High School became an educational campus housing George Washington Carver, as well as Excelsior Preparatory High School, and Queens Preparatory Academy. G.W.C. High School is most known for maintaining Springfield’s veterinary program.

Paul Stier (1874-1916) was a prolific builder in Ridgewood, constructing over 2,000 buildings in the early 20th century, which led to the area being called "Stierville." His civic involvement also grew, culminating in his election as Queens County Sheriff, a position that ended tragically. Born in Mecklenburg, Germany, Stier immigrated to Buffalo, NY, in 1891. He became a mason's apprentice and married Anna Muller in 1898. In 1902, they moved to Ridgewood, where he began building brick rowhouses. He quickly became Ridgewood's largest developer and a major builder in New York City. His rowhouses, often attributed to the architectural firm Louis Berger & Company, are notable for their curved bay fronts and alternating brick colors. Stier and Berger used standardized floor plans to speed up construction. Stier developed several areas, including 64th Place, 69th Avenue, and 70th Avenue. Around 1910, he purchased a portion of the Frederick Ring Farm, located between Fresh Pond Road (from present-day Catalpa Avenue to 68th Avenue) and west to Buchman Avenue, where he created Silver and Hughes Streets and constructed dozens of homes. He then built homes on 71st Avenue and 68th Avenue, followed by Elm Avenue. Later, he acquired and developed part of the John C. Debevoise Farm, on the corner of Catalpa Avenue and Fresh Pond Road. In 1909, Stier co-founded the Ridgewood National Bank. The following year, he partnered with Louis Berger and August Bauer to form Bauer and Stier, Inc. They purchased a portion of the Wyckoff Farm, which they began developing in 1914. On Gates Avenue, Palmetto Street, Woodbine Street, Madison Street, Putnam Avenue, and Cornelia Street, they constructed 80 three-story, six-family brick houses. They built the first large apartment buildings in Queens at the corner of Cypress Avenue and Woodbine Street, each four stories tall with 16 apartments. Stier was active in politics, founding the Jefferson Democratic Club. He was a member of the board of arbitration for the Building Trades Council, and served as president of the Bricklayers Union Local No. 35. When he found out he was under consideration for the position of Queens County sheriff in 1915, he mounted his campaign, with a slogan of "A German from Ridgewood,” and was elected by a large majority. On October 23, 1916, less than a year after his election as Sheriff, Stier was killed while serving an arrest warrant on Frank Taff. Taff, an inventor whose latest invention had failed, was in debt and behind on his rent. Two of Stier's deputies had attempted to serve the warrant two days earlier and were threatened with a firearm and a demand that they leave. When they returned, Taff, armed and barricaded inside his home, opened fire, fatally wounding Stier and injuring two other officers. On October 26th, a wake for Stier drew approximately 200 attendees, including employees of Bauer and Stier, members of the Democratic Club, and a homeowners' association comprised of residents from houses Stier had built. Stier is interred at Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens.

Robert Tilitz (1909-1996) moved to Elmhurst in 1917. He served in World War II, and rose to the rank of Captain. After the war he attended the New School and went on to a career at the Veterans Administration - he taught social services at Columbia University after he retired. Tilitz was often referred to as the "Mayor of Elmhurst," where he was very active in the community. He volunteered at a mental health clinic, was president of the Newtown Civic Association and was the associate editor of The Newtown Crier. He also served on Community Board 4 and was a trustee of Queens Borough Public Library for 13 years. In addition, Olga Conway, Bob's sister, was a tireless advocate for gardens and green spaces. She and her crew could be found at the oasis which was the Elmhurst Library Garden, taking care of the wide, spacious, and diverse groups of flowers.

Marjorie and Nicholas Ferrigno were founding members of The Broadway-Flushing Homeowners’ Association. Marjorie Ferrigno (1916 – 2013) was an educator who founded the Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts. She was President of the American Educational Theatre Association which represented all nonprofessional theatre in the United States, Secretary and Executive Committee member of the American National Theatre and Academy, was Chair of the North Shore Branch League, taught speech courses at several universities, a founding chairman of the drama department at LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts, past President of the American Educational Theatre Association, chairman of the North Shore Branch of League of Woman Voters and steering committee member of the Economic Development Committee. She was a founding member and President of the Broadway-Flushing Homeowners’ Association and won a landmark court case to enforce a restrictive covenant, which led to a rezoning of part of Northern Boulevard. Nicholas Ferrigno (d. 2010) was a senior instructor for American Airlines at JFK and LaGuardia Airport and a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. He was a founding member of The Broadway-Flushing Homeowners’ Association.

John McHugh Sr. (1924 - 2019) Of Whitestone, Queens, was a decorated American World War II veteran who participated in the D-Day invasion, the Battle of Normandy, and the Battle of the Bulge. Corporal John McHugh graduated from Morris Park High School in the Bronx in 1942 and enlisted in the army with his friends following Pearl Harbor. He was in the 1st Infantry Division, which arrived in landing craft at Omaha Beach on D-Day, 6 June 1944. was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the European Theater of Operations Ribbon, Two Presidential Unit Citations, and Combat Infantry Badge and the Fort Eger given by Belgium. The State of New York placed him in its Veterans Hall of Fame. After the war, McHugh came back to Whitestone, married his childhood sweetheart Rosie McGee, and worked as a Transit Authority conductor.

Nancy Lucia Cataldi (1953- 2008) was a life-long Richmond Hill resident, co-founder and president of the Richmond Hill Historical Society, and the historian for Maple Grove Cemetery. She was an active preservationist for the Victorian-era homes in Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, and Kew Gardens, and succeeded in securing the special designation of the Queens Historical Society’s “Queensmarks” for twelve local homes, thereby preserving their architectural and historic value. Cataldi was a graduate of Richmond Hill High School and the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she studied photography, and worked as a photographer for the New York Rangers, Rolling Stone Magazine, the New York Times, and People Magazine.

Anthony Suraci (d. 2006) lived with his wife in Sunnyside, Queens, for over 60 years. He served as President of the Thompson Hill Civic Association, district Leader. In addition, he served as a Republican district leader, a cub-master of Cub Scout Pack 221, and held a number of annual charity events for needy families through United Republicans of Western Queens (URWQ), where he was a driving force.

Arthur Hayes (1923-1997) was an active member of Community Board 3, President of the East Elmhurst-Corona Civic Association, Inc., First Vice-President of the Jackson Heights Community Development Corporation, a Board Member of the Jerome Hardeman Day Care Center and Worshipful Master of Trinity Lodge No.51 in East Elmhurst. As part of CB 3 Mr. Hayes served on the Transportation, Land Use and other committees, and was instrumental in obtaining approval to make 32nd Avenue a one-way street because of the heavy traffic. He participated in numerous meetings with public agencies on environmental, traffic and safety issues related to La Guardia Airport, and to the dredging and clean-up of Flushing Bay.

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.

Ann and two gentlemen (probably members of the board) at Annual Dinner, some time in the 1960's, taken at Waldorf-Astoria.     Library Dedication at then Boys Club of Queens, Ann is the woman in a dark dress standing in doorway facing camera, Taken in the 1960-70's.   Mary Demarkos Ann Buehler and Lucille Hartmann posting before bleachers in gym at Variety Boys and Girls Club, taken some time in the early 2000s Ann working on a crafts project with kids, Taken sometime in the early 2000.

Lieutenant Charles Kemmer (1876-1927), a 26-year NYPD veteran who served at the 54th Precinct (currently the 104th Precinct), was killed in the line of duty while attempting to stop a robbery in progress. Kemmer had been in civilian clothing, travelling from his home at 9524 112th Street in Richmond Hill to the station house for desk duty on the morning of December 22, 1927 when he noticed a car idling outside a restaurant on Kossuth Place (now Cypress Hills Street), a couple blocks from the station. A robbery was underway, and in his attempt to disrupt it, one of the two suspects shot Kemmer in the face and abdomen. Despite his injuries, as the suspects escaped Kemmer wrote down the license plate of their vehicle. He was also able to provide detailed descriptions of the assailants to detectives who arrived on the scene. Using this information, the police captured the suspects later that day, and they confessed to the crimes. The shooter was convicted of murder and executed in the electric chair on August 9, 1928; the other man was convicted of second-degree murder. In 2023, City Councilmember Robert F. Holden successfully proposed renaming the street near the location of the restaurant in Kemmer's name.

Photos are of signs displayed on the front of the school building.

Patrick Collins was an Irish-American from Woodside who died on a European battlefield during World War 1.

Patrick Deignan (1946-1983) was a civic and community leader in his neighborhood of Jackson Heights. He co-founded the Jackson Heights Civic Association and was founder and board chairman of the Catherine M. Sheridan Center for Senior Citizens (now the Catherine Sheridan Older Adult Center). He was also active in various charitable, fraternal, and church organizations. In 1971, he became a member of Community Board 3, serving as its chairman from 1973 to 1975. He was a Democratic District leader in Jackson Heights from 1974 to 1982, chairing the Borough President's Commission on Charter Revision and also serving on the executive committee of the Queens Democratic Party. Deignan was born on Staten Island on March 17, 1946, and raised in Jackson Heights, where he attended Blessed Sacrament School. He later continued his studies at Manhattan College (now Manhattan University) in Riverdale. He died on October 6, 1983, at Lenox Hill Hospital after a brief gastrointestinal illness. Survived at the time by his wife, the former Joy Laskowski, and a son, Patrick Jr., he is buried at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale, New York. On November 5, 1997, a ceremony was held at 34th Avenue and 69th Street, at the western end of a 26-block-long mall in Jackson Heights (also known as Paseo Park), to co-name the stretch of traffic islands in Deignan’s honor as Patrick C. Deignan Mall.

The entrance to Hortense Powdermaker Hall on the campus of Queens College.

Robert R. Pellicane (1924-1950) was a pilot from Hollis and a first lieutenant in the 137th Squadron of the 52nd Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard in White Plains. On May 3, 1950, Pellicane died in a plane crash when he missed the field as he was landing his F47 Thunderbolt fighter following a routine flight at the Westchester County Airport. He was 26 years old, and it was the first recorded fatality at the airport since its opening in 1943. Pellicane was the third of four children of Italian-immigrant parents Joseph and Catherine C. Pellicane. His father worked as a life insurance agent, and in the early 1930s, the family lived in Woodhaven. At the time of the accident, Pellicane was studying law at St. John’s University in Brooklyn and would have graduated in June. A veteran of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II, Pellicane received the Distinguished Flying Cross and two other battle decorations for his wartime service. He is buried in St. John Roman Catholic Cemetery in Middle Village, and a plaque in his memory is located at 193rd Street and Hillside Avenue in Hollis, about half a mile from where his parents lived at the time of his death. The plaque was dedicated in 1957 and is attached to a flagpole in the traffic median. It reads: “IN MEMORY OF/ ROBERT R. PELLICANE/ BORN APRIL 10, 1924/ DIED MAY 3, 1950/ 1ST LIEUTENANT/ 52ND FIGHTER WING/ 1957.”

Albert C. Benninger (1885-1937), a former Queens Parks Commissioner, was born in the town of Germany, Canada. He moved to the United States at age four and later joined the U.S. Marine Corps, serving in the Spanish-American War (1898-1899). In 1905, after leaving the military, Benninger settled in Glendale, Queens. Seven years later, he was elected Queens Assemblyman and subsequently served on the Board of Aldermen. He briefly held the position of Commissioner of Public Works in 1916. Two years later, Mayor John F. Hylan (1869-1936) appointed Benninger as Commissioner of the Queens Parks Department. He retired from this role in 1928 but was re-appointed two years later, serving until 1933. From 1933 to 1937, he was the Federal Marshal for the Eastern District of New York.

Stone commemorating the former location of the Jamaica Academy on the Queens College campus. Walt Whitman taught at the Academy in 1839.

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Paul A. Vallone (1967-2024) was an attorney and civic leader whose political career in the service of northeastern Queens and New York City was cut short when he died of a heart attack on January 28, 2024, at the age of 56. Part of a noted Queens political family, Vallone served as City Council member for District 19 from 2014 to 2021, and then as deputy commissioner of external affairs for the New York City Department of Veterans' Services from 2022 to 2024. His grandfather, Charles J. Vallone, was a judge in Queens County Civil Court. Both his father, Peter Vallone Sr., and his brother, Peter Vallone Jr., represented Astoria on the City Council, from 1974 to 2001 and 2002 to 2013 respectively, making for a 47-year run of City Council service by the Vallone family. Born on June 2, 1967, and raised in Astoria, Vallone attended high school at St. John's Preparatory School, graduated from Fordham University, and received his law degree from St. John's University. He was admitted to the New York and New Jersey Bar Associations in 1992. Prior to his political career, he was a managing partner at his family’s general practice law firm, Vallone and Vallone LLD, which was founded in 1932 by his grandfather. Vallone moved from Astoria to northeast Queens and, failing in a bid for City Council office in 2009, he followed in his family’s footsteps in 2014 when he won the District 19 seat. He was known as an advocate and champion for the Queens communities he served. During his tenure, he sponsored 800 pieces of legislation — 128 of which he was the first primary sponsor — and was credited with fundraising nearly $40 million in funding for his district. He was at the forefront of adopting participatory budgeting, which allows constituents the opportunity to vote for and prioritize the capital projects they want funded by their councilmember’s office. As Vallone shared with the Queens Daily Eagle in 2021, “It was a beautiful way to create community involvement in your own tax dollars.” Vallone was dedicated to supporting students and seniors in his district. While on the council, he helped expand school capacity by 4,500 seats and reinstated the New York City Council Merit Scholarship, known as the Peter F. Vallone Academic Scholarship, awarding high school graduates up to $350 per semester. He also helped to launch a free transit service for northeast Queens seniors. In addition, he spearheaded a project that brought $3.6 million in improvements to Flushing’s Bowne Park. The work was completed in the spring of 2023 and included upgrades to the playground, pond, plaza, and bocce court. In his time on the City Council, he also advocated for the creation of animal shelters in every borough. The Paul A. Vallone Queens Animal Care Center, located at 1906 Flushing Avenue in Ridgewood, is the first public animal shelter in Queens, and a ribbon cutting ceremony on September 10, 2024, served as the official opening. The shelter is run by Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC), a nonprofit that operates the city’s animal shelters on behalf of the Health Department. Vallone was a champion of ACC and its mission to end animal homelessness in New York City. As a strong advocate for veterans, Vallone voted as a city council member in favor of a measure that established the New York City Department of Veterans' Services in 2016, making it the first City agency in the country dedicated to serving veterans and their families. After his tenure on the city council ended due to term limits in 2021, Vallone lost a bid for a Civil Court seat in eastern Queens. But he continued his public service in 2022, when Mayor Eric Adams appointed him as deputy commissioner of external affairs for the new Department of Veterans' Services. Vallone held that role until his death in 2024. In addition to his government work, Vallone was active in his Flushing community as a soccer coach for St. Andrew Avellino Catholic Academy, winning two championships for the school, and also coaching his two daughters, Lea and Catena, and his son Charlie (Charles J. Vallone III). Vallone was survived by his wife, Anna-Marie, and three children. Two other city locations are named in Vallone’s honor. They include Paul A. Vallone Way, at the intersection of 157th Street and 32nd Avenue in Flushing, and the Paul Vallone Community Campus at 18-25 212th Street in Bay Terrace, an addition to P.S. 169 Bay Terrace School and Bell Academy.

Billie Jean King, (b. 1943) Regarded by many as one of the greatest tennis players of all time and a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient for her advocacy for women in sports and LGBTQ+ rights, Billie Jean King won 39 Grand Slam titles in her tennis career and led the fight for equal pay in tennis. Known for beating Bobby Riggs in 1973’s “Battle of the Sexes,” at age 29. She pushed relentlessly for the rights of women players and helped establish the Women’s Tennis Association, and the Women's Sports Foundation. Billie Jean King was born Billie Jean Moffitt on November 22, 1943 in Long Beach, California. Her father, Bill, was a fire fighter and her mother, Betty, was a homemaker. An athlete from a young age, King played basketball and softball as a child. In her career she won 39 major titles, competing in both singles and doubles. King was a member of the victorious United States team in seven Federation Cups and nine Wightman Cups. For three years, she was the U.S. captain in the Federation Cup. King and her husband, Larry King (married 1965–87), were part of a group that founded World Team Tennis (WTT) in 1974. She came out as a lesbian in 1981, and after her divorce from Larry King, she publicly embraced her homosexuality and became an advocate for gay rights. King retired from competitive tennis in 1984 and the same year became the first woman commissioner in professional sports in her position with the World Team Tennis League. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987. The Fed Cup Award of Excellence was bestowed on her in 2010. In 1972, she was the joint winner, with John Wooden, of the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award and was one of the Time Persons of the Year in 1975. She has also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year lifetime achievement award. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1990.\*\* In 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center in New York City was renamed the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.\*\* In 2018, she won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, the Federation Cup was renamed the Billie Jean King Cup in her honor. In 2022, she was awarded the French Legion of Honor.

Kingsland Homestead is the former home of Captain Joseph King (1757-1843), a British sea merchant and commercial farmer who settled in Queens. Located in Flushing, the two-story home with attic was dubbed “Kingsland” by Captain King when he purchased the property in 1801 from his father-in-law. The Dutch Colonial style farmhouse consists of twelve rooms, and it is considered one of the earliest examples of the residential style of construction common in Long Island in the 18th and 19th centuries. Kingsland Homestead was designated as a historic landmark in 1965. The home was originally built around 1785 for Charles Doughty, himself the son of Benjamin Doughty, a wealthy Quaker who purchased the land in Flushing. King married Charles Doughty’s daughter and bought the farmhouse from him, settling there to raise livestock and to grow corn and wheat for sale. Together with his wife, the couple had two children, Mary Ann and Joseph. King’s family and his descendants continued to live in the farmhouse until the 1930s when hardships of the Great Depression forced them to sell. In 1965, the home was declared a New York City historic landmark, the first structure in Queens to receive this honor. Three years later, when plans for a shopping center put the home at risk of demolition, it was moved from its original site (at 40-25 155th Street near Northern Boulevard) to its current location about one mile west at Weeping Beech Park in Flushing (at 143-35 37th Avenue). The structure now serves as the home of the Queens Historical Society.

Paul A. Vallone (1967-2024) was an attorney and civic leader whose political career in the service of northeastern Queens and New York City was cut short when he died of a heart attack on January 28, 2024, at the age of 56. Part of a noted Queens political family, Vallone served as City Council member for District 19 from 2014 to 2021, and then as deputy commissioner of external affairs for the New York City Department of Veterans' Services from 2022 to 2024. His grandfather, Charles J. Vallone, was a judge in Queens County Civil Court. Both his father, Peter Vallone Sr., and his brother, Peter Vallone Jr., represented Astoria on the City Council, from 1974 to 2001 and 2002 to 2013 respectively, making for a 47-year run of City Council service by the Vallone family. Born on June 2, 1967, and raised in Astoria, Vallone attended high school at St. John's Preparatory School, graduated from Fordham University, and received his law degree from St. John's University. He was admitted to the New York and New Jersey Bar Associations in 1992. Prior to his political career, he was a managing partner at his family’s general practice law firm, Vallone and Vallone LLD, which was founded in 1932 by his grandfather. Vallone moved from Astoria to northeast Queens and, failing in a bid for City Council office in 2009, he followed in his family’s footsteps in 2014 when he won the District 19 seat. He was known as an advocate and champion for the Queens communities he served. During his tenure, he sponsored 800 pieces of legislation — 128 of which he was the first primary sponsor — and was credited with fundraising nearly $40 million in funding for his district. He was at the forefront of adopting participatory budgeting, which allows constituents the opportunity to vote for and prioritize the capital projects they want funded by their councilmember’s office. As Vallone shared with the Queens Daily Eagle in 2021, “It was a beautiful way to create community involvement in your own tax dollars.” Vallone was dedicated to supporting students and seniors in his district. While on the council, he helped expand school capacity by 4,500 seats and reinstated the New York City Council Merit Scholarship, known as the Peter F. Vallone Academic Scholarship, awarding high school graduates up to $350 per semester. He also helped to launch a free transit service for northeast Queens seniors. In addition, he spearheaded a project that brought $3.6 million in improvements to Flushing’s Bowne Park. The work was completed in the spring of 2023 and included upgrades to the playground, pond, plaza, and bocce court. In recognition of Vallone’s dedication to improving schools for his district, a 627-seat addition to P.S. 169 Bay Terrace School and Bell Academy in Bay Terrace was named in his honor. Located at 18-25 212th Street, the Paul Vallone Community Campus officially opened at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on October 17, 2024. The site serves students from kindergarten through eighth grade and includes 16 classrooms, five kindergarten rooms, and three special education rooms. As a strong advocate for veterans, Vallone voted as a city council member in favor of a measure that established the New York City Department of Veterans' Services in 2016, making it the first City agency in the country dedicated to serving veterans and their families. After his tenure on the city council ended due to term limits in 2021, Vallone lost a bid for a Civil Court seat in eastern Queens. But he continued his public service in 2022, when Mayor Eric Adams appointed him as deputy commissioner of external affairs for the new Department of Veterans' Services. Vallone held that role until his death in 2024. In addition to his government work, Vallone was active in his Flushing community as a soccer coach for St. Andrew Avellino Catholic Academy, winning two championships for the school, and also coaching his two daughters, Lea and Catena, and his son Charlie (Charles J. Vallone III). Vallone was survived by his wife, Anna-Marie, and three children. Two other city locations are named in Vallone’s honor. They include Paul A. Vallone Way, at the intersection of 157th Street and 32nd Avenue in Flushing, and the Paul A. Vallone Queens Animal Care Center, located at 1906 Flushing Avenue in Ridgewood.

Bishop Moses Taylor (1924-2004) was founder of The Long Island City Gospel Tabernacle and the Center of Hope International (COHI), which provides various services to the needy. Taylor, was born in 1924, and came to the Queensbridge Houses/Long Island City community in 1961. He began the Long Island City Gospel Tabernacle with just 12 members, and later opened up the Center of Hope International Church at 12-11 40th Avenue in Long Island City. He was involved in many philanthropic endeavors including an award-winning bread pantry in LIC and the Astoria Outreach Ministries.

Peter G. Van Alst (1828 – 1900) was a surveyor who helped to build the roads and infrastructure of western Queens. Van Alst was born in Dutch Kills on May 28, 1828, and was a member of the large extended Van Alst family, a prominent Dutch farming family who moved to the area in the early 1700s and resided there until the 1870s, when they spread out and moved elsewhere. Van Alst received his education at the District School and the Astoria Institute. He apprenticed as a surveyor for a few years, and worked independently until 1872, when the city legislature appointed him to serve as a commissioner, surveying and supervising the construction of several roads in Long Island City, Queens. In 1874, Van Alst and three fellow Long Island City citizens comprised the First Ward Improvement Commission, which was in charge of raising the grades of Jackson Avenue from Vernon Avenue to the courthouse from three to eight feet, which profoundly affected the daily life of the city. Van Alst’s job consisted primarily of constructing maps, which revealed detailed organizations of street lines, grades, and sewage lines of the Long Island City area.

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.

Steve Knobel (1943-2021) served as President of the Jewish Center of Jackson Heights for over twenty years, during which time the Center served not only its congregants but also the entire community. Under Steve’s tenure, the Center became the de facto community center of Jackson Heights. The Jewish Center offered many programs including piano lessons for children, ESL classes for immigrants, tutoring sessions for young people, lectures, opera concerts and Broadway and Bagel performances.

Adrian Onderdonk (1795-1831) and Ann Wyckoff (1798-1863) Onderdonk were the heads of the last family line to own this house, which is the oldest Dutch Colonial stone house in New York City, and which served as a benchmark in litigation to determine the border between Queens and Kings counties. Adrian was born on June 20, 1795 in Cow Neck, now Manhasset on Long Island, as the sixth generation of Onderdonks, with his family originally from Brabant, Holland. Adrian purchased a farm on April 27, 1821 from the estate of George Ryerson for $600, and in the first years of his ownership, Adrian added a small frame addition to the stone house, whose features are like Dutch homes of the time. The 50-acre farm would have been bounded roughly from Flushing Avenue to Catalpa Avenue, and from Woodward Avenue to Seneca Avenue. Settler ownership of the land dates back to 1662, and includes a who's who of early New York families. It was first granted to Hendrick Barentz Smidt in the Town of Bushwick, which had been founded in 1661 by Peter Stuyvesant. Paulus Vander Ende bought the farm in 1709 and built the vernacular stone house with a wooden Dutch gambrel roof, a combination of Dutch and English styles. Vander Ende's daughter Jane and her husband Moses Beadel inherited the farm in 1796. Their son, Moses Jr., inherited the farm next. When he married Jane Remsen, whose family owned a large farm in what would later be Glendale, he sold the Ridgewood farm to the Van Nuys family. Around 1810, they sold it to John Cozine, who resold it on November 7, 1812, to George Ryerson. From 1661 to 1796, the site was part of land known as "The Disputed Territory," claimed by both Bushwick in Kings County and Newtown in Queens County. An arbitration committee finally decided the exact boundary in 1769. Arbitration Rock, a literal boulder, served to mark the boundary between the two towns. It was found buried on the property in the 1990s and excavated from the ground in 2001, and now sits on the property as a reminder of the long dispute between the boroughs. Adrian and his wife Ann, who was from the Wykoff family, had daughters Dorothy Ann in 1820 and Gertrude in 1825. Adrian died at the age of 36 on July 2, 1831. Ann and the children continued to live on the farm, with Dorothy Ann leaving for marriage in 1838, and Gertrude doing the same seven years later. Ann lived there until around 1849. She passed away at age 70 on November 16, 1863. Adrian and Ann Onderdonk are interred at Cypress Hills Cemetery. By the time Gertrude sold the property in 1912, she and her sister had sold off much of the land in lots, so it was only the house and a large yard around it. With changes to the area, what had once been farmland soon became industrial. The farm became home to a stable and a glassworks, and eventually even a manufacturer that created components for the Apollo Space Program. However, by the 1970s, the house was abandoned. When it nearly burned down in 1975, locals came together to form the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society to restore and preserve the home. The house and the property were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and then to the ew York State Register in 1978. The house became a New York City landmark in 1995. It is now a museum with a permanent exhibit on the archaeology of the Onderdonk site, plus more about the history and culture of the area. The Historical Society is housed on the site, and provides a historical and genealogical research library, and events throughout the year.

Hermon A. MacNeil (1866 – 1947), was an American sculptor who is known for designing the Standing Liberty quarter, struck by the Mint from 1916-1930, and sculpting Justice, the Guardian of Liberty on the east pediment on the United States Supreme Court Building. He was best known for his work with Native American subjects, and gained acclaim for his work as a portrait sculptor. He was taught sculpture in many art institutions, and gave Augusta Fells Savage private lessons when her acceptance to the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts was retracted after it became clear she was Black. MacNeil was born in Massachusetts and graduated from Massachusetts Normal Art School (now the Massachusetts College of Art and Design) in Boston, and then became an instructor in industrial art at Cornell University from 1886-89. He later studied under Henri Chapu and Alexandre Falguière in Paris and was granted a scholarship to study in Roma for four years. He went to Chicago to collaborate with Frederick MacMonnies1893 World's Columbian Exposition, and then came back to teach at the Art Institute of Chicago for a few years. He married fellow sculptor Carol Brooks in 1895 and they went to Rome and lived there for 3 years until 1899 before moving to Paris. The couple came back to the United States around 1900 when their first son was born, and soon after they purchased a home in College Point, where he lived and worked until he passed away in 1947.

Dr. Paul Klapper (1885-1952) was the first president and guiding force behind the establishment of Queens College. Born in Romania, Klapper came to the U.S. with his parents as a child and enrolled at City College at the age of 14. After receiving his A.B. degree, he taught in the New York City public schools and at City College, eventually earning an M.A. and Ph.D. from New York University. He became head of the education department at City College in 1917, and served as dean of the college from 1922 to 1937, when he was asked to lead the newly created Queens College. Klapper personally selected the college’s first faculty, as well as the 400 students who enrolled in that first year. He led the college through its first decade, retiring in 1948. He then served as acting dean of teacher education for CUNY's five four-year colleges, and was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago from 1949 to 1951. He passed away in 1952 at the age of 66. Over the course of his career, Klapper also was a member of the board of trustees for The State University of New York, Brandeis University and The New York State Commission Against Discrimination. He received various honorary degrees from institutions including Yeshiva University, Columbia University and Queens College. His papers are housed in Queens College's Department of Special Collections and Archives. Klapper Hall was built and dedicated in 1955 as the Paul Klapper Library, and served as the college's main library until the larger Rosenthal Library was constructed in 1988. In 1992, the building was renovated and renamed Klapper Hall; it now houses the school's art and English departments as well as the Godwin-Ternbach Museum.

Malcolm X (1925-1965) was a civil rights activist and a prominent leader in the Black nationalist movement. On February 21, 1965, he was assassinated by several gunmen while preparing to deliver a lecture at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights. Three members of the Nation of Islam were convicted of his murder, though two were later exonerated. His posthumously published book, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, written with Alex Haley, is considered a classic of American autobiographical literature. Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, he was the fourth of seven children. His father, Earl Little, was a local president for the Black nationalist Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), and his mother, Louise (Norton) Little, was a UNIA division secretary. His father’s activism led to death threats from the Ku Klux Klan, forcing the family to move several times before they settled in East Lansing, Michigan. When Malcolm was six, his father died in what was officially ruled a streetcar accident but was likely an act of white supremacists. In 1939, his mother was committed to a mental institution, and after a period in foster care, Malcolm moved to Boston. In 1946, he was arrested for larceny and served time in prison, where he converted to the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Malcolm X. After his 1952 release, he worked with the movement's leader, Elijah Mohammad, to expand its membership nationwide. He married Betty Sanders in 1958, and they had six daughters. In 1964, Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam due to disagreements with its leadership. He traveled extensively throughout North Africa and the Middle East, converting to traditional Islam and changing his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. In 1965, he founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity as a secular platform to unify Black Americans with Africans and build solidarity in the developing world by shifting the focus from civil rights to human rights. Malcolm X Place was named in his honor and is the block where his family lived from 1960 until his assassination in 1965. Their home on 97th Street between 23rd and 24th Avenues was firebombed a week before his death. The house, which was owned by the Nation of Islam at the time, is now privately owned. In addition to the Malcolm X Place, Malcolm X Garden on 112th Street in East Elmhurst is also named in his honor.