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.

Joseph Imparato (1944-2005), a longtime resident of Long Island City, was a community leader dedicated to assisting the elderly, keeping his neighborhood clean and serving St. Mary’s Church. He owned and operated Joe Imp’s Restaurant in Long Island City for many years and was a fixture in the neighborhood. Prior to the opening of his restaurant, Imparato also served as a City sanitation worker and as a soldier in the U.S. Army. He passed unexpectedly following knee surgery at the age of 60.

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.

Sharon Christa McAuliffe (1948-1986) was born in Boston and earned a degree in history from Framingham University in 1970. Later that year, McAuliffe married her high school sweetheart and moved to Maryland, where she began her teaching career. McAuliffe taught American history, civics and economics, and earned an MA in education administration at Bowie State University before her family moved to Concord, N.H., in 1978. There, she continued to teach junior high and high school social studies. In 1984, she became one of more than 11,000 educators who applied to be part of NASA’s new “Teacher in Space Project.” On July 1, 1985, after a rigorous application process, it was announced that McAuliffe had been selected. During the next six months, McAuliffe trained for the space mission and prepared school lessons that would be aired from space. On January 28, 1986, McAuliffe joined six other astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, which launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Shortly after launching, the Challenger\_ \_malfunctioned, and everyone on board was killed in the explosion. In 2004, McAuliffe and the 13 astronauts who died during the Challenger and Columbia tragedies were posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

Saint Michael, also known as Saint Michael the Archangel or Archangel Michael, is the only angel mentioned in all three sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He is considered the leader of all angels who fights evil with the power of good. Never formally canonized as a saint, he has historically been assigned important religious significance as a protector and a defender. His earliest appearance can be traced to Jewish writings dating from the third and second centuries BCE, where he is depicted as a guardian and caretaker of Israel. Biblical passages that mention Michael include the Books of Daniel, Jude, and Revelation. Based on these passages, Michael is traditionally assigned four main roles: head of the army of God, a champion of God’s people, an angel of death who accompanies souls to heaven, and a weigher of souls in their final judgment. Michael is considered the saint of police officers and military personnel, as well as bankers and grocers (because of the association with the weighing of money or goods). According to Roman Catholic tradition, Michael is commonly cited as the chief or principal angel, or the “archangel,” and among the guardians or attendants at God’s throne. Artists’ depictions of Michael over the ages often reference the Book of Revelation, which tells of a war in heaven. In the conflict, Saint Michael leads angelic forces against Satan, eventually casting him out. Michael is often shown as a warrior with a helmet and sword, standing triumphant over a dragon or demon-like figure and yielding a shield inscribed with the Latin phrase “Quis ut Deus,” a translation of Michael in Hebrew, meaning “Who is like God?”, with the phrase serving as the war cry of the angels in their battle with Satan. Michael often holds a scale as well, representing his role in divine judgment. Over history, many sanctuaries and churches have been dedicated to Michael. One of the earliest was Michaelion, which was built in the fourth century under Constantine the Great in modern-day Turkey on the site of a pagan temple. Among the many sites that followed are the Sanctuary of Monte Sant'Angelo in Italy and Skellig Michael off the coast of southern Ireland, both around the sixth century, and Mont Saint Michel in Normandy, France, in the eighth century. In August 1853, Father John McMahon of St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church in Flushing dedicated St. Michael’s Catholic Academy, making it the first Catholic parochial school in Queens. The school is located at 136-58 41st Avenue in Flushing.

Phil “Scooter” Rizzuto (1917-2007) was born in Brooklyn to Italian parents but moved with his family to Glendale, Queens, in his youth. He played baseball at P.S. 68 in Glendale and Richmond Hill High School, which he left before graduating to play in the major leagues. Although disregarded by some local teams because of his height (5’ 6”), he convinced the New York Yankees to sign him in 1937. After proving himself in the minor leagues, Rizzuto played shortstop for the Yankees starting in 1941 and, after serving in the Navy from 1943 to 1945, played the remainder of his career with the team from 1946 to 1956. His superb defense and offensive contributions helped the team win 10 American League pennants and eight World Series during his 13 years with the club. After finishing second in MVP voting in 1949, he followed with a career year in 1950 in which he achieved career highs in multiple categories, including hits (200), batting average (.324), on-base percentage (.418) and runs (125), while winning the AL MVP Award. As a shortstop, he led all AL shortstops in double plays three times, putouts twice and assists once. By the time he retired in 1956, he left the game with a batting average of .273, 1,588 hits, 149 stolen bases, 38 home runs, 563 RBI and five All-Star Game selections. Rizzuto was hired quickly afterward by the Yankees as a broadcaster in 1957 and would announce for the team for 40 years, retiring in 1996. He was beloved by new generations of fans who adored his style – his “Holy Cow!” signature line is recognizable to this day. The Yankees retired Rizzuto's uniform number 10 in 1985 and placed a plaque in his honor in their stadium's Monument Park. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994, recognizing his career of more than 50 years in the game. Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto Park opened in 1938 as Smokey Oval Park, a reference to the Long Island Railroad terminus, which was a landing area of soot and ash from the railway smoke. The park was renamed in 2008 to honor Rizzuto.

Lillian “Lily” Gavin (1931 – 2016) was the owner of Dazies Restaurant and a longtime community leader and advocate for Sunnyside. Gavin, was very active in several community groups, and served as president of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce, where her accomplishments included helping to raise $450,000 for a much-needed revamp of the Sunnyside Arch. Gavin was also heavily involved in neighborhood organizations, including the local YMCA, the Sunnyside Drum Corps, the Boys and Girls Club, the Queens Council of Tourism, the Sunnyside Senior Center, and was one of the first women to join the Sunnyside Kiwanis Club. Gavin also served as an honorary director of the LaGuardia Community College Foundation. She was a founding member of the Sunnyside Shines business improvement district and sponsored many events either financially or by providing food.

Luke the Evangelist, or Saint Luke, was a first-century Greek physician and writer. He is widely considered to be the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, two substantial portions of the New Testament that were central to the early formation and expansion of Christianity. Most of what is known of Luke is taken directly or inferred from his own writings, as well as a small portion of the letters of Saint Paul, and also based on tradition. Born in Antioch, a major city in ancient Syria, Luke is considered by some scholars to be a gentile convert to Christianity, possibly due to exposure to the teachings of Jesus during a time when the early church was rapidly spreading throughout the Roman Empire. He was a travel companion to Saint Paul, accompanying him in evangelizing the teachings of Jesus across Ancient Greece and Rome. He remained with Paul during Paul’s imprisonment and eventual death in Rome around 64 CE. Luke continued to preach and write until his death, possibly as a martyr, at the age of 84, in Boeotia, a region of Central Greece. Composed in Greek, Luke’s writings are often described as methodical and detailed, with an engaging and polished style. He is considered the most literary of the New Testament writers, with a talent for vivid storytelling and historical precision. The Gospel of Luke provides an account of the life of Jesus and includes such well-known parables as the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan. Scholars note Luke’s emphasis on the compassion of Jesus toward the marginalized, including women, the poor, and sinners. Luke’s Acts of the Apostles is an early history of the Roman Catholic Church. It begins where the Gospel ends, with the Ascension of Christ to heaven, and describes the missionary work of the Apostles, especially Saint Paul, providing a window into the early history of Christianity. Known as the patron saint of physicians, Luke is also revered by artists. An eighth century tradition claims that he painted Mary, Paul, and Peter, and illustrated the Gospels. However, scholars largely consider this to be a legend. He is often represented by the ox in Christian iconography, which is said to symbolize the sacrifice and service of Jesus, as portrayed in Luke’s Gospel. Located at 16-01 150th Place in Whitestone, Saint Luke School is for grades pre-K through eight. Classes were originally offered in the basement of Saint Luke Church in 1910. On October 29, 1916, a new school building was opened in a ceremony officiated by Bishop Charles E. McDonnell.

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.

Issac Newton Failor (1851-1925) was a mathematician and astronomer who served as the first principal of Richmond Hills High School. Born in Ohio on February 9, 1851, Failor graduated from Ohio Weslyan University in 1875. Before Richmond Hill, he worked at schools in Alabama, New Orleans, Long Island, and Brooklyn. Richmond Hills High School opened in 1897, and when it expanded to its current spot not long after, its astronomy observatory and telescope, spearheaded by Failor and built at a cost of $6,000, was its crown jewel. RHHS publications were still called “The Dome" long after it was demolished to accommodate an even larger school, where the library is named for Failor. Failor retired in 1917, after which point he spent much of his time cultivating dahlias and roses. At the time of his passing on April 2, 1925, he lived with his wife Eva at 8424 113th Street. Failor, his wife, and his children are interred in a plot in Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens.

The Fitzgerald/Ginsberg Mansion is one of the last great Tudor Revival mansions of the 1920s still standing in Flushing. It was built in 1924 for Charles and Florence Fitzgerald, two affluent New Yorkers, who then sold it to Ethel (Rossin) Ginsberg (b. 1905) and Morris Ginsberg (1902-1947) in 1926. While less is known about the Fitzgeralds, the Ginsbergs were a prominent family that made its fortune manufacturing materials for builders. The residence was owned by the Ginsberg family for more than seventy years. Designated as a historic landmark in 2005, it is considered a picturesque example of the Tudor Revival style once prevalent in the wealthy outer neighborhoods of New York City. In 1924, Charles and Florence Fitzgerald engaged the architect John Oakman (1878-1963) to build the mansion. Oakman had designed civic works, including hospitals, power stations, and college buildings, but he specialized in picturesque single-family homes. For the Fitzgeralds, he designed a Tudor-style mansion, also known as the “Stockbroker’s Tudor,” which was particularly popular in the early twentieth century. The two-story dwelling was built on a plot of land purchased by Florence Fitzgerald. At the time, it sat adjacent to Flushing’s Old Country Club (which has since been demolished) and was set back from the street on a winding drive. The Fitzgeralds moved from their residence on Malba Drive in northern Queens to their new home, located about two miles south in the Broadway Flushing neighborhood. Two years later, the Fitzgeralds sold the home to Ethel and Morris Ginsberg. Morris was one of seven children born to Russian-immigrant parents Hyman and Dora (Greenwald) Ginsberg. His father was the owner of D. Ginsberg and Sons, a prominent Queens manufacturer of sash, door, and trim. In charge of the business side of the firm, Morris began work for his father at a young age, and he went on to serve as vice president for 20 years before becoming chairman of the board in 1946. By that time, the company was known as the Empire Millwork Corporation. Morris was active in community and philanthropic activities in and around Flushing, including serving as chairman of the Queens division of the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies and the United Jewish Appeal, as well as a Vice President of the Woodside National Bank. Ethel and Morris had two children, William and Alane, and Morris died in 1947 at the age of 45. In 2003, the Ginsberg family sold the home, and it now houses the Assembly of God Jesus Grace Church. The site was declared a New York City landmark on September 20, 2005. It stands in its original location at 145-15 Bayside Avenue in Flushing.

John Lionel Golden (1874-1955) was a playwright who, at one time, had a Broadway theater named after him (202 W 58 Street). Golden and his wife opened their huge property in Bayside to the neighborhood for recreational activities. When they died, they donated the property to the city with the stipulation that it remain a park. The land is now Crocheron Park and a portion is designated as Golden Field. According to Wikipedia, as a songwriter, Golden was best-known as lyricist for "Poor Butterfly" (1916). He produced many Broadway shows and four films.

William Alexander Hammond (1828-1900) was a military physician and a leader in the practice and teaching of neurology. Beginning in 1862 at the peak of the Civil War, he served as the 11th Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, with the rank of Brigadier General. Forced out of his position in 1864, he was vindicated 15 years later when he was reinstated in retirement by an act of Congress. Hammond was the founder of the Army Medical Museum (now the National Museum of Health and Medicine) and among the founders of the American Neurological Association. The second son of Dr. John Wesley Hammond and Sarah Hammond (née Pinckney), William Hammond was born on August 28, 1828, in Annapolis, Maryland, and raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In 1848, he earned his medical degree from the University of the City of New York (now NYU). He went on to complete his residency at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. On July 3, 1849, he joined the U.S. Army as an assistant surgeon; the following day, he married Helen Nisbit. The couple had five children, two of whom died in infancy. Having served mostly in the territories of New Mexico and Kansas, Hammond resigned from the army in 1860 to accept a position as professor of anatomy and physiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he rejoined the army as assistant surgeon. In 1862, the U.S. Sanitary Commission was in the process of urging medical reforms, including the appointment of a new Surgeon General. With Hammond’s medical military service experience, expertise in research and teaching, and knowledge of hospital design, he was favored by the Commission for the position, and President Abraham Lincoln appointed him as Surgeon General of the U.S. Army on April 25, 1862. Hammond quickly launched new reforms, including beginning an ambulance corps to more effectively remove the wounded from the battlefield, increasing the number of hospitals, and planning and locating them to better accommodate the thousands of injured soldiers in need of care. However, by 1864, Hammond had clashed with Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, and their disagreements led to Hammond’s court-martial and dismissal on August 18 of the same year. He returned to New York City, and by 1867, he had rebuilt his professional life, becoming a professor of mental disease at Bellevue Hospital and a leader in the field of neurology. In 1878, the U.S. Congress passed a bill, signed by then-President Rutherford B. Hayes, effectively restoring Hammond on the rolls of the army as surgeon general and brigadier general on the retired list, without pay or allowances. His wife, Helen, died in 1885, and Hammond was remarried the following year to Esther Dyer Chapin. In 1887, the couple moved to Washington, D.C., where Hammond established a hospital for patients with nervous system diseases. He was among the founders of the New York Medical Journal and the Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, and he also authored many medical works and several novels. Hammond died of heart failure on January 5, 1900, at his home in Washington. He is buried, along with his wife, Esther, at Arlington National Cemetery. Named in honor of Dr. William A. Hammond, PS 82Q The Hammond School was constructed in 1906 and is located at 88-02 144th Street in Jamaica.

Edward J. Fowley (1926-1999) was a neighborhood leader in Woodside. He was born in Queens. After graduating from Bryant High School, he joined the United States Army and later worked for the Socony-Mobil Corporation. While serving in the U.S. Army in Korea, he founded an orphanage for abandoned children. In 1965, he purchased Shelly's Bar and Grill, which he turned into a Woodside institution. He served as the President of the Woodside Senior Assistance Center and was the founder and president of the Woodside Anti-Crime Committee. Fowley raised funds for St. Sebastian’s Church and the Woodside Veterans Memorial, and he was a board member of the Bulova School for the Handicapped. In 1989, Mr. Fowley was invested as a Knight of the Holy Sepulcher by John Cardinal O'Connor in recognition of his charitable work.

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.

Detective Picciano (1938-1971), a 10-year veteran of the NYPD, was assigned to the 41st Detective Squad in the Bronx. On February 15, 1971, he was shot and killed at the 41st Precinct building while fingerprinting a suspect that he and other detectives had arrested for abducting a 13-year-old boy. Other members of the Detective Squad were able to return fire, killing the suspect. Det. Picciano resided in Maspeth, Queens, with his wife Theresa and their three children.

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.

Thomas Emanuel (1923-1972) was born in Miami Florida, eventually moving to Astoria, Queens, NY. He served in the US Navy and was one of two Black stewards aboard the USS Nautilus during her successful attempt to become the first submarine to complete a submerged transit of the North Pole on August 3, 1958.

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) was the 34th President of the United States, serving two terms from 1953-1961. Before serving as president he had a long military career including commanding the Allied Forces landing in North Africa in November 1942. In addition, he served as Supreme Commander of the troops invading France on D-Day, 1944. After the war, Eisenhower served as the President of Columbia University and in 1951 as the Supreme Commander of the newly assembled NATO forces. He ran for and won the Presidency in 1952, using the slogan “I like Ike”. As President he worked to reduce the strains of the Cold War, signing the Korean Truce in 1953. The death of Stalin in 1953 also allowed him to establish better relations with the Soviet Union. Domestically, Eisenhower was considered a moderate Republican and continued many of the New Deal and Fair Deal programs. He advocated for Civil Rights, sending troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to assure compliance with the orders of a Federal court to desegregate the schools. He also ordered the complete desegregation of the Armed Forces. He Mamie Geneva Doud in 1916.

Raoul Gustav Wallenberg (1912-c. 1947) was a Swedish humanitarian who saved the lives of approximately 100,000 Hungarian Jews threatened by Nazi persecution and execution during World War II. Wallenberg was born on August 4, 1912 to a prominent, wealthy family in Stockholm. He moved to the U.S. to study architecture at the University of Michigan in 1931, and then worked abroad before returning to Sweden in 1936. There he worked for a company owned by a Hungarian Jew, learning Hungarian after that country adopted anti-Jewish policies in 1938 so that he could travel to Budapest in place of his employer. In 1944 a U.S. War Refugee Board representative identified Wallenberg as someone who could lead efforts to rescue Jews in Hungary with assistance from the U.S. Department of State. He used his drafting skills to design counterfeit Swedish passports and distributed them on trains headed toward concentration camps. He purchased homes and painted them the colors of the Swedish flag, becoming neutral sites where Jews found safety. He also stocked warehouses with food for both rations and for bribes for Nazi officers. Wallenberg left Hungary on January 17, 1945 to meet with Soviet commanders about relief plans. He was reported missing soon after. A Soviet counterintelligence agency reportedly brought him to Moscow on suspicion of espionage. The Soviets claimed not to know what had become of him, but in 1957 the government shared documents that said he had died in a Russian prison in 1947 from a heart attack. Though the circumstances of his death remain unclear, it is widely believed that he was executed by the KGB. He was only formally declared dead in 2016. In October 1981, Wallenberg was made an honorary citizen of the United States. That December, City Council Member Arthur Katzman sponsored the bill to name this sitting area after Wallenberg. The site was dedicated in Wallenberg's honor on April 25, 1982. Several other locations are named for Wallenberg across the city, including streets in Brooklyn and the Bronx, a playground in upper Manhattan, and Wallenberg Forest in the Bronx.

Born in Veracruz, Mexico, Lorena Borjas (1960-2020) was a fierce advocate for the transgender and Latinx communities in Queens. Borjas moved to the U.S. in 1980 and earned a green card through a Reagan-era amnesty program. She was convicted of charges related to prostitution in 1994, but the charges were later vacated, since she was forced into prostitution by human traffickers. However, other convictions remained on her record until 2017, when then-Governor Andrew M. Cuomo pardoned her. She became a U.S. citizen in 2019. Borjas inspired many people through her advocacy for the LGBT community. She co-founded the Lorena Borjas Community Fund in 2012 and was actively involved in many organizations, including the AIDS Center of Queens County, the Hispanic AIDS Forum and the Latino Commission on AIDS. In 2015, she founded El Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo, a non-profit organization that works to defend the rights of transgender and gender non-binary people. The organization provides legal and medical services to trans and non-binary sex workers and undocumented members of the community. Although Borjas had already been taking sex workers to clinics to get tested for HIV and helping to get lawyers for possible deportation cases, El Colectivo was a way for her to officially continue that work. She also became a counselor for the Community Healthcare Network's Transgender Family Program, where she worked to obtain legal aid for victims of human trafficking. Borjas died on March 30, 2020, of complications from COVID-19. On June 26, 2022, a bill was signed by Governor Kathy Hochul establishing the Lorena Borjas transgender and gender non-binary (TGNB) wellness and equity fund, which will be used to invest in increasing employment opportunities, providing access to gender-affirming healthcare, and raising awareness about transgender and gender non-binary people in New York.

Julian “Julie” Wager (1929-2010) was founder of the Central Astoria Local Development Coalition and its president for over 30 years. He was also president of the Steinway Astoria partnership and the Steinway Street Merchants Association, and served on Community Board 1 for 30 years. Wager died in January 2010 at the age of 80; he had been sick for the previous 10 years after being left paraplegic after a spinal cord injury. He had six daughters.

Barry Commoner (1917-2012) is regarded as one of the founders of the environmental movement in the U.S. Born in Brooklyn and educated at Columbia and Harvard, he began teaching at Washington University in St. Louis in 1947, after serving in the Naval Air Corps during World War II. Starting in the 1950s, Commoner took on a series of important issues in his research, writing and speeches that would propel him into the public eye as a leading voice in the environmental debate. These included radioactivity releases, the energy crisis of the 1970s, solid waste and recycling, the global dispersion of pollutants, and most recently, the potential uses of genetic knowledge. In 1966, Commoner founded the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems at Washington University as the country's first federally funded environmental health sciences center. He moved the Center to Queens College in 1981, where it is now known as the Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment. Commoner retired from Queens and the Center in 2000 but continued to research, write and lecture until his death in 2012.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was the third president of the United States and an American Founding Father. He was born on April 14, 1743, in Shadwell, Virginia, and quickly became a key figure in the American struggle for independence. A fierce advocate for liberty, Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence at 33 as a member of the Second Continental Congress. He held many political offices throughout his life, serving as Governor of Virginia (1779 -81), U.S. Minister to France (1784-90), and Secretary of State to George Washington (1790-97). Jefferson often famously came into conflict with Alexander Hamilton, especially when Jefferson was Secretary of State and Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury. Jefferson consistently advocated for a limited federal government and for states’ rights throughout his political career, while Hamilton advocated for the opposite. Jefferson was also Vice President during John Adams’ term as President, and was himself elected President in 1800, completing his second term in 1809. As President, one of his biggest achievements was the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon in 1803, and reducing the national debt significantly. Jefferson also established the University of Virginia at the age of 76 in his retirement, which he largely spent at Monticello, the plantation he inherited from his father. Jefferson also inherited slaves from his father and his father-in-law, most of whom were enslaved at Monticello. Many of those enslaved who worked in the house were of the Hemings family, including Sally Hemings. Jefferson was the father of at least six of Hemings’ children, and the first was born when Hemings was only 16. He was, however, conflicted about the moral implications regarding slavery, and eventually freed all of Hemings' children. Jefferson died in Monticello on July 4, 1826, on the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the Declaration of Independence.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841-1935) was an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court originally appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902. Holmes was born in Boston and served with the Massachusetts Twentieth Volunteers during the Civil War. He received his law degree from Harvard in 1866 and both practiced law and taught at Harvard for the next 15 years. In 1882, he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, where he served until being nominated and confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court in December 1902. He retired in 1932 at the age of 90. Throughout his 29 years on the Supreme Court, Holmes ruled on a number of highly influential cases protecting American civil liberties and helped build the legal framework for the New Deal. I.S. 204 is a public middle school (grades 6-8) that offers a dual-language program for students. It serves a largely immigrant and first-generation American student population, including the local Bangladeshi community, as well as children from the Ravenswood and Queensbridge NYCHA communities. Across the street is a large public recreation area called Dutch Kills playground that the school shares with P.S. 112.

Frank Joseph McManus (1948-1968) was killed in action in Dau Tieng, Vietnam, on September 17, 1968, at the age of 20. He had been in Vietnam for only six weeks when the helicopter transporting his unit back from a scouting patrol was struck by heavy fire as it landed. The first man out of the helicopter was wounded. Private McManus, despite the intense fire, left the helicopter to try and help him. McManus wrote from Vietnam that the men in his platoon were like his brothers. He had many friends and was always there for them. He was proud to wear his uniform and loved his country. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. McManus grew up in Queens on 80th Street, near Ditmars Boulevard. He attended Our Lady of Fatima Parochial School and Bryant High School in Queens. In December 1975, seven years after his death, residents of his Queens community erected a small stone monument at 81st Street and Ditmars Boulevard, around the corner from his family's home, at the park where Frank McManus played as a child. The inscription reads: "A Community Remembers." The following passage is from a message that Agnes and Peter McManus, his parents, wrote at his entry on “The Wall of Faces”: "The community erected a beautiful memorial stone in his memory near his home. LaGuardia Airport donated the Frank McManus Park... Every Memorial Day, we fly up to New York to attend the Memorial for Frankie and all the Boys who lost their lives for the Freedom of our Country. I am a Gold Star Mother who is very proud."

Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford (1928 - 2020) was a Hall of Fame Yankee pitcher from Queens who grew up playing baseball in the sandlots of Astoria before going pro; he was raised on the block now named after him. Ford made his major league debut pitching for the Yankees in 1950 and spent his entire career with the team. He helped the Yankees win six World Series titles and 11 American League pennants in his 16 seasons. He had a career record of 236-106, setting the Yankees’ record for victories. He was the Cy Young Award winner in 1961 and was a 10-time All-Star. His 10 World Series victories are the most for any pitcher. He pitched thirty-three and two-third consecutive scoreless innings in World Series play, breaking Babe Ruth’s record. He also holds the record for World Series starts with twenty-two, innings pitched with 146 and strikeouts with 94. "Whitey" Ford was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.

Manuel de Dios Unanue (1943-1992) was a Cuban-born journalist and radio host who was killed in New York City in 1992. De Dios was born in Cuba in 1943 and moved to the United States in 1973, after time spent in Spain and Puerto Rico, he settled in Elmhurst, Queens. He worked as a journalist for several Spanish-language newspapers in New York City, before becoming editor-in-chief of El Diario La Prensa, the largest Spanish-Language newspaper in NYC, in 1984. De Dios was best known for his investigative reporting on the Colombian drug trade. He wrote extensively about the drug cartels that operated in Queens, and he named names. His reporting made him a target of the drug traffickers, and he was slain on March 11, 1992, by a hitman for the Colombian drug cartel in the Meson Asturias restaurant on 83rd Street in Queens.

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) was the first woman in the United States to graduate from medical school (1849) and obtain an MD degree.  Blackwell was born on February 3, 1821 to Quaker parents in Bristol, England. Although education for women was generally discouraged at the time, Blackwell’s parents disagreed. Throughout Blackwell’s childhood, her parents were very supportive of her educational endeavors. By the age of 11, Blackwell and her family immigrated to the United States. During Blackwell’s mid-20s, she had experienced the passing of a close friend. Prior to death, her friend had told Blackwell that she would have experienced less suffering if she had a female doctor. This inspired Blackwell to pursue a career path in medicine. In 1847, multiple medical schools rejected her because she was a female applicant. Fortunately, Geneva Medical College accepted her application but for improper reasons. The college allowed the all-male student body to determine her acceptance through a vote. Many of the students voted “yes” as a joke since she was a female. Blackwell experienced an extremely difficult time in medical school, she was constantly harassed and excluded by classmates and faculty. Despite the hardships Blackwell had to endure, she graduated in 1849 and was ranked first in her class. In the mid 1850s, Dr. Blackwell returned to the United States and opened a clinic to treat poor women. In 1857 Dr. Blackwell opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children with the help of her sister Dr. Emily Blackwell and colleague Dr. Marie Zakrzewska. This infirmary would be the nations first hospital that had an all-female staff. This hospital still stands and is currently known as the New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital and is helping millions of people in New York to this date. Additionally, in 1868, Dr. Blackwell created a medical college devoted to providing education for future female physicians which is now apart of Weill Cornell Medicine. In 1869 Dr Blackwell returned to England where she continued to advocate for women in medicine until her death in 1910.

The following text was written by Paul Russo's brother George: Paul was a humble and devout Christian young man. Passing at the age of 33, his life was short but meaningful. He was a person of integrity who devoted his later life to the ministry of the less fortunate. Tending to the homeless, building shelter for the poor in Third World countries and bringing the spiritually disenfranchised to the Lord became his mission. He was also entrepreneurial and business-savvy, always giving back to others whatever success he earned through his hard work. The last months of his life were an inspiration to those who witnessed the selfless acceptance of his medical diagnosis offered for the healing of others. Paul was a heroic saint to those who knew him best.

Elmer Ebenezer Studley (1869 - 1942) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. From 1933 to 1935, he served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Studley was born on a farm near East Ashford, Cattaraugus County, N.Y. in 1869. He went to local schools before attending Cornell University which he graduated from in 1894. He was a reporter for Buffalo newspapers in 1894 and 1895, and studied law, passing the bar in 1895 and began his practice in Buffalo. He was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Two Hundred and Second Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, serving in the Spanish American War in 1898 and 1899. After the war he moved to New Mexico where he practiced law and began to get involved in politics until 1917, when he moved to New York City. He continued to practice law in New York and became Deputy New York State Attorney General in 1924 and was United States commissioner for the Eastern District of New York in 1925 and 1926. In 1932, he was elected at-large as a Democrat to the 73rd United States Congress, holding office from March 4, 1933, to January 3, 1935. Afterwards he resumed the practice of law. In February 1935 he was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a member of the Board of Veterans' Appeals and served until his death in 1942. Studley is buried at the Flushing Cemetery.

Gurū Nānak (1469-1539), born in Punjab, India, was a spiritual leader, the founder of Sikhism, and the first of the ten Sikh gurus. The Richmond Hill neighborhood in which the street named for him is located at the heart of the Punjabi and Sikh community in Queens. Guru Nanak Way intersects with the part of 101st Avenue co-named “Punjabi Avenue.”

More info coming soon. If you have information about a named place currently missing from our map, please click on "Add/Edit" and fill out the form. This will help us fill in the blanks and complete the map!

This walking tour explores some of the buildings and other features on the Queens College campus that are named for individuals connected with the college.

Andrew Christopher Brunn (1973 – 2011) died in the line of duty in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11‚ 2001 as a member of Ladder 5 in Greenwich Village. He served in the New York Air National Guard as a member of the 213 Engineering Installation Squadron for 10 years, reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant. He began his service in New York City as an NYPD officer in August 1993, attaining the rank of Sergeant in January 2001. Wanting to do more for New York and its people‚ he joined the FDNY in May 2001. Wanting to do more for New York and its people‚ he joined the FDNY in May 2001. Even though he was still a ‘probie’ when he died‚ the officers and firefighters of his firehouse knew he would have been one of the ‘great ones.’ He was a natural leader and dedicated family man.

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.

James Edward Heath (1926 – 2020) was a jazz legend who raised his family in the historic Dorie Miller co-ops in Corona and taught at Queens College. James “Jimmy” Heath was born in Philadelphia to Percy Heath Sr. and Arlethia Heath. He attended Walter George Smith School in South Philadelphia and graduated from Williston Industrial School in Wilmington, N.C., in 1943. His father was an auto mechanic who played the clarinet, performing on the weekends, and his mother sang in a church choir. His sister Elizabeth played piano; his older brother Percy Jr. played violin and bass; and his younger brother Albert “Tootie” Heath played the drums. As a teenager, Heath took music lessons and played alto saxophone in the high school marching band. He also played in a jazz band called the Melody Barons and toured with the Calvin Todd Band in 1945, before joining a dance band in Omaha, Nebraska led by Nat Towles. Small in stature (standing 5'3"), he was unable to serve during World War II, because he was under the weight limit. In 1946, he formed his own band, which was a fixture on the Philadelphia jazz scene until 1949. Heath's earliest big band (1947-1948) in Philadelphia included John Coltrane, Benny Golson, Ray Bryant, Specs Wright, Cal Massey, Johnny Coles, and Nelson Boyd. Charlie Parker and Max Roach sat in on occasion. In 1959, Heath briefly joined Miles Davis's group, replacing John Coltrane, and also worked with Kenny Dorham and Gil Evans. Heath recorded extensively as leader and sideman. During the 1960s, he frequently worked with Milt Jackson and Art Farmer. The biological father of R\&B songwriter/musician James “Mtume” Forman, Heath met his eventual wife, Mona Brown, whom he married in 1960; they had two children, Roslyn and Jeffrey. In the early 1960s, encouraged by friends Clark Terry and the Adderley brothers, the Heaths purchased an apartment in the Dorie Miller Cooperative Housing in Corona, where the Adderleys and Terry also lived. In 1987, Heath became a professor of music at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. There, he premiered his first symphonic work, "Three Ears," with Maurice Peress conducting. In 2010, his autobiography, "I Walked With Giants," was published; it was voted Best Book of The Year by the Jazz Journalist Association. He recorded three big band records -- "Little Man Big Band," produced by Bill Cosby, "Turn Up The Heath" and "Togetherness Live at the Blue Note." Heath received a Life Achievement Award from the Jazz Foundation of America and the 2003 American Jazz Master Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. He was nominated for three Grammy Awards and has received three honorary doctorate degrees. He was also the first jazz musician to receive an honorary doctorate in music from the Juilliard School.

Thanks to his granddaughter, Susan Latham, we can tell a fuller story about William Latham, whose name graces a pocket park in Elmhurst.

Walter Carl Becker was an American musician, songwriter, bassist and record producer, best known as one half of the acclaimed jazz-rock band Steely Dan. Becker was a native of Forest Hills, growing up at 112-20 72nd Drive. In 1971, he and his songwriting partner, Donald Fagen, formed Steely Dan, creating music that was highly regarded by critics and fellow musicians alike, and that sustained a devoted audience for more than 40 years. In 2000, Steely Dan won four Grammys, including Record of the Year. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

Paul Russo (1986 – 2018) was a lifelong resident of Ozone Park and is remembered as a young man of deep faith who dedicated much of his life to helping others. He attended local schools and was involved with local sports and Little League associations. He was also a member of the Frassati Fellowship of NYC, a Catholic group of young people dedicated to prayer and charity work. He worked as a real estate agent, and participated in volunteer-led efforts to build homes for the homeless in the United States as well as Central and South America,. Paul’s zeal for helping the poor was an inspiration to many others in the community. Paul passed away in 2018 at 33 after a long and courageous battle with cancer, and was survived by his mother, Antha, and father George Russo, owner of the Villa Russo in Richmond Hill, and president of the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Queens. He also left behind four siblings and many, many friends.

William M. Wheeler (1923-2011) volunteered as a United States Army Air Corps pilot and was inducted into the service in 1943. He was transferred to the Tuskegee Institute, earned his wings as a Tuskegee Airman fighter pilot a year later, and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant. He was assigned to the 302nd Fighter Squadron in Ramitelli, Italy, and carried out bomber escort missions over Europe. His combat career was cut short on his sixth mission when a respiratory ailment caused him to black out at 36,000 feet. Luckily, he regained consciousness at 8,000 feet and returned safely to his home base. He was honorably discharged in 1945. In 2007, Wheeler and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen received the Congressional Medal of Honor presented by then-President George W. Bush. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Wheeler was the second of four children of Ada and Leon “Toy” Wheeler, who was the director of Detroit’s Brewster-Wheeler Recreation Center. William graduated from Northwestern High School before going on to study at Howard University in the early 1940s. As a sophomore in 1943, he left school to enlist and attended basic training at Keesler Field, Mississippi, then transferring to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama for flight training. After his return from Europe in 1945, he met and married Minnie Jenkens, and the couple raised three children together. Wheeler's career included positions in the publishing and aircraft industries, and ultimately in banking as vice president of National Bank of North America and its successor, National Westminster Bank. Following his retirement in 1991, he traveled nationally and internationally to speak with civic groups about the history of the Tuskegee Airmen. He was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Tuskegee University in 2006, and from Lehman College in 2009, and he was the recipient of many combat awards and decorations, including the Air Medal, European/African/Middle Eastern Theater Campaign Medal, American Campaign Medal, the National Defense Service Medal. A longtime resident of Hempstead, New York, Wheeler died of heart failure on February 19, 2011. In 2014, 2nd Lt. William M. "Wild Bill" Wheeler Way, located at the southeast corner of Tuskegee Airmen Way and 153rd Street in South Jamaica, was named in his honor.

Born in Brooklyn, Maurice A. FitzGerald (1897-1951) was a lifelong public servant. He began his career as a postal clerk at the age of 14. In the 1920s, FitzGerald became the president of the South Side Allied Civic Association and championed the construction of John Adams High School in Ozone Park. He also successfully opposed the displacement of local residents by the widening of streets. In 1929, FitzGerald was elected to the State Assembly where he served for nine years. During his tenure, he actively supported laws that extended the parkways through Queens, earning him the nickname “The Father of Queens Parkways.” FitzGerald also led a successful campaign to regulate utility companies, saving taxpayers millions of dollars. A staunch supporter of civil service and labor, he sponsored many pro-worker bills, including ones that restricted court injunctions and prohibited contracts that prevented workers from joining unions. In 1937, FitzGerald was elected Sheriff of Queens and embarked on a vigorous beautification and enforcement campaign for the 1939-40 World’s Fair. In 1942, he was appointed Borough Public Works Commissioner, a position he held for seven years. FitzGerald was then elected as Queens Borough President on the Democratic ticket with Mayor William O’Dwyer in 1949. Unfortunately, FitzGerald only served as president for two years; he suffered a fatal heart attack in 1951 while vacationing in the Adirondacks, ending a productive career of public service. Later that year, the City Council named a new playground for FitzGerald in Ozone Park where he had been a longtime resident. He had been instrumental in securing this site as a park and had participated in the groundbreaking ceremonies months before his death.

Samuel Coles Jackson (1827-1890) was an entrepreneur and landowner who was a member of the prominent Jackson family of Newtown in the present-day Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst areas of Queens. Jackson was the final owner of Jackson Mill, which was located at what is now the entrance to LaGuardia Airport where 94th Street crosses the Grand Central Parkway. First built in the mid-1650s by Dutch settlers, the mill was in operation until 1870. Jackson was one of three sons born to Thomas Birdsall Jackson and Martha (Coles) Jackson. Thomas was a lawyer, judge, and politician who served in the United States Congress from 1837 to 1841. In 1835, the family moved to Newtown to an area called Fish’s Point near Flushing Bay. The mill on their property, which was used to grind wheat and corn, was known by three names over the course of its more than 200 years in operation, including Kip’s Mill, Fish’s Mill, and finally, Jackson Mill. Once known as Trolley Triangle for the trolley that ran through the area, Jackson Mill Green is located at the intersection of 94th Street and Jackson Mill Road, between 23rd and 24th Avenues. Originally opened in 1950, the park was renamed as Jackson Mill Green in honor of Samuel Coles Jackson in 1997.

Emanuel Gold (1935-2013) was senior ranking Democrat in the New York State Senate from 1971-1998. He was the prime sponsor of over 80 laws. In 1977, he crafted the nation's first "Son of Sam" law which calls for victims of notorious criminals to be compensated from profits criminals gain from the sale of their stories. He also wrote laws covering health and medicine and the rights of the disabled.  Adam Gold (1972-2012) was an avid fan of comic books, chess and Star Wars. He was devoted to his family and lived his life with courage and dignity.

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.

Detective Randolph Holder (d. 2015) came from a family of Guyanese immigrants who all served as police officers and settled in Rockaway, Queens. Holder had served with the New York City Police Department for five years and was assigned to Police Service Area 5. He and his partner were on patrol in East Harlem when they responded to a call of shots fired. The officers canvassed the area for the suspect and located him approximately 18 blocks away, near a footbridge over Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive at 120th Street. A gun battle ensued, and Officer Holder was struck in the exchange of gunfire and was killed in the line of duty on October 20, 2015. He was 33 years old. The suspect, who had been wounded in the exchange of gunfire, was located several blocks away by responding officers and taken into custody.

Anthony Mazzarella (ca. 1937-2015) was a boxing enthusiast as well as a dedicated fundraiser for people with cancer. He owned the Crab House restaurant, known for its seafood and for its sports and boxing memorabilia. He donated to the precinct council, which used such donations to feed and clothe the homeless and also donated food for various events. He was a member of the New York State Boxing Commission, the NY State Wine and Grape Foundation, and the American Cancer Society Queens Division. He founded the Patty Fund for Childhood Cancer to help families with the financial burdens of medical bills. He started an annual Fourth of July block party that raised thousands of dollars for cancer patients, and also hosted a Christmas party for kids with cancer. He was honored with the American Cancer Society’s St. George Medal, its highest award for service and leadership in the fight against cancer.

Francis Lewis(1713-1802) was born in Wales. He attended school in England then moved to New York for business. Lewis was later taken prisoner in France before returning back to New York where he made a home in Whitestone. He was a member of the Continental Congress for years before the Revolutionary War and was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence.

Jason Mizell (1965-2002) who went by the stage name Jam Master Jay, was born in Brooklyn, NY, on January 21, 1965. As a child, he was musically inclined, picking up the drumsticks and learning to play bass. As a teen Mizell’s family moved to Hollis, Queens. From this neighborhood he began to change the music industry. He teamed with Joseph Simmons (stage name Run) and Darryl McDaniels (stage name DMC) to form the group Run-DMC in the early 1980s. Known as pioneers of rap, the group helped bring hip hop to the mainstream and were the first rap artists to broadcast on MTV. Run-DMC were the first rappers to have a gold album (Run-D.M.C., 1984), as well as the first to go platinum (Raising Hell, 1986) and multiplatinum (Raising Hell, 1987). Aside from Run-DMC, in 1989, Mizell launched JMJ Records, a successful record label that signed famous artists like 50 Cent and Onyx. Additionally, he starred in films such as Die Hard (1988), The Bounty Hunter (2010), and Friday Night Lights (2004). Mizell was murdered in his recording studio in Jamaica, Queens, on October 30, 2002. Although the case lay unsolved for many years, in February 2024, Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington were convicted of his murder. The sign at the corner of 205th Street and Hollis Avenue honors Jam Master Jay in his former neighborhood of Hollis. A nearby mural created by Art1airbrush reinforces Run-DMC’s ties to the neighborhood.