Queens Public Library Connection

Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950) was an educator, historian, philosopher, journalist, and mentor to African American scholars. Known as the “Father of Black History,” Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915, now called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). Inspired by his belief that it is necessary for a race to have a history or it will be made insignificant, and that the study of African American history would make for a better society, he founded Negro History Week in 1926. Woodson chose February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, and this yearly celebration of Black history and culture is now recognized as Black History Month.

Woodson was born in New Canton, Virginia, to James Henry and Anne Eliza (Riddle) Woodson. His parents were formerly enslaved, and Woodson was the fourth of their seven children. In his childhood, he worked as a sharecropper, miner, and other jobs to help support his family. In 1892, he moved with his brother to West Virginia, where he worked in the coal mines. Woodson began his studies at Frederick Douglass High School in Huntington at the age of 20 and graduated in less than two years. In 1903, he earned a bachelor's degree in literature from Berea College in Kentucky.

For the next four years, Woodson served as an education superintendent for the U.S. government in the Philippines. In 1908, he was awarded a second bachelor’s along with a master’s in European history from the University of Chicago. In 1912, he earned his doctorate in history from Harvard University, becoming the second African American, after W.E.B. Du Bois, and the first child of formerly enslaved people in the United States to earn a PhD.

In 1916, he founded The Journal of Negro History, now named The Journal of African American History, a scholarly publication of the ASALH. He served as principal of the Armstrong Manual Training School in Washington, D.C., in 1918, and left a year later to become the dean of the School of Liberal Arts and head of the graduate faculty at Howard University. From 1920 to 1922, he filled the role of dean at West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University).

Woodson formed the Associated Publishers Press in 1921, which he ran out of his home in Washington, D.C. The business served as an outlet for works by him and his fellow Black scholars. In 1937, he created the Negro History Bulletin (now the Black History Bulletin) to help educators teach African American history.

Woodson was active in civil rights as a lifelong member of both the NAACP and the National Urban League. His many published works include The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861 (1915), A Century of Negro Migration (1918), The Negro in Our History (1922), and the Mis-Education of the Negro (1933). He died on April 3, 1950, in his home in Washington, D.C., and is buried at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Suitland, Maryland. In 1976, his home was designated as a National Historic Landmark.

Initiated by Miss Gertrude McBrown and Mrs. Ruby A. Carter, officers of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now the ASALH), the Carter G. Woodson Reference Collection of African American Culture and Life was dedicated at the Queens Central Library in May 1968. Located on the Library’s main floor, it has grown to be a more-than-4,000 volume reference collection covering many aspects of African American culture and life.

Queens Public Library Connection

Rabbi I. Usher Kirshblum (1911-1983) served as the spiritual leader of the Jewish Center of Kew Gardens Hills in Queens, an association that began in 1946.

Born in Bialystok, Poland, he immigrated to the United States as a child. He attended New Utrecht High School and graduated from Brooklyn College. Furthering his education at the Jewish Institute of Religion, he was ordained as a rabbi in 1944.

Rabbi Kirshblum was active in numerous Jewish communal and Zionist organizations, including serving as membership chairman of the Zionist Organization of America and as a member of the Rabbinical Assembly of America, where he was a prominent voice against the ordination of women as rabbis. In 1971, he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. His community involvement extended beyond Jewish organizations; he was a board member of the Queens Legion of the National Conference of Christians and Jews and president of the Queens Interfaith Clergy Council. Additionally, he dedicated 33 years to the Board of Queens Public Library and 12 years to the NYS Advisory Committee for the Aging. Rabbi Kirshblum also served on the American Bicentennial Committee and the New York State Advisory Committee for the Aging.

He passed away at the age of 71 due to heart failure while vacationing in Hollywood, Florida, in February 1983.

Queens Public Library Connection

Corporal William A. Leonard (1889-1918) was a Flushing native who lost his life fighting in World War I.

Leonard, a member of the 107th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division in the First World War (1914-1918), was killed in action on July 16, 1918, in Flanders, Belgium. As a boy, Leonard ran errands at the Flushing Daily Times and worked his way up to the position of city editor. Leonard was appointed to the board of the Queens Borough Public Library by Mayor John Purroy Mitchel (1879-1918), and served two terms before resigning to enter the military.

Queens Public Library Connection

Betty Pegen (1912–2008), a resident and volunteer in College Point for more than 75 years, dedicated herself to the cultivation of the gardens at Poppenhusen Monument Park. Pegen also devoted many hours to other gardens in College Point, including Municipal Park and the Poppenhusen Library. Known as the “Gardening Angel” of College Point, the German immigrant took it upon herself for over 50 years to plant, weed, trim, cut, and cultivate the small garden around the monument to Conrad Poppenhusen—the German-born benefactor of College Point who founded the Poppenhusen Institute in 1868, which housed the first free kindergarten in America.

Queens Public Library Connection

Rev. Edward F. McGoldrick (1857-1930) was the founder and first pastor of St. Andrew Avellino Roman Catholic church in Flushing. The parish was established in 1914 in response to a growing Catholic population in Upper Flushing, and for its first two years, Mass was celebrated at the Ritz Theatre on Broadway and 14th Street (now Northern Boulevard and 154th Street). The first church -- a small wooden structure with a capacity of 567 -- was built several blocks down Broadway in 1916; the present cathedral-like building was dedicated in December 1940. The parish's school (now the St. Andrew Avellino Catholic Academy) was opened in 1925.

Fr. McGoldrick also sought to bring a public library to the residents of Upper Flushing. In 1921 he joined the Queens Public Library's Board of Trustees to advocate for a new branch in that community, and in 1929 the Broadway- Flushing Community Library was opened. Just one year later Fr. McGoldrick passed away, and in 1933 the branch was renamed in his honor.

A plaque displaying Fr. McGoldrick's photo and describing his role in establishing the library was installed at the branch in a public ceremony in November 2017.

Queens Public Library Connection

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.

Queens Public Library Connection

The Carnegie Reading Room at Elmhurst Library is named after businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835 – 1919).

The name honors the original Elmhurst Library building, which was a “Carnegie Library”, built with money donated by Carnegie. Over 2,500 Carnegie libraries were built across the world, between 1883 and 1929. In 1907, funds totaling $240,000 donated by Andrew Carnegie were used for the construction of seven new libraries in Queens, including the old Elmhurst Library. The one-story structure served the community for 110 years, but more space was needed, and in 2011 the building was demolished. The new four-story library opened in 2016. The only artifact saved was the edifice of the old fireplace, which is now in the 3rd floor room of the children's section.

Four Carnegie Library buildings (Astoria, Poppenhusen, Richmond Hill, and Woodhaven) are still in use in Queens at this time.

Queens Public Library Connection

Halvor A. James (1936-2018) served in the United States Army as a First Lieutenant and later worked 32 years for the City of New York Department of Social Services. He was also very active in the National Association of Social Workers; the Retirees of District 37 AFSCME; served as president of the St. Albans Civic Improvement Association; and was a member of the Friends of St. Albans Library, the United 199th Street Block Association, the Southeast Queens Crime Task Force, Jamaica NAACP, the Douglas/King, Elmer Blackurne and Guy R. Brewer Democratic Clubs, and president of the PTA at P.S. 95 in Queens. He was also first vice chair of the Board of Directors of the Alpha Phi Alpha Senior Citizen Center and an active member of the Hampton Alumni Association.

Queens Public Library Connection

Jack Thompson (d. 2006) known as the “Mayor of Cambria Heights,” was a community activist and the President of the Cambria Heights Civic Association for 11 years.

Thompson was a veteran of the United States Army, and retired from the New York City Department of Education. He was an active member of many advisory boards on community concerns, including - the Jamaica Post Office, Verizon, Jamaica Hospital, Universal Pre-K, and the Human Resources Administration; in addition, he was an honorary member of the Cambria Heights Kiwanis Club, he was one of the founders of the South East Queens Community Partnership, established to fight the scourge of drugs, and played an instrumental role in bringing the first library to the community. Thompson was an inspiration to many in his community and other civic leaders and activists in Cambria Heights.

Queens Public Library Connection

Cynthia Jenkins (1924 - 2001) was a resident of Springfield Gardens, Queens, a former state assemblywoman, community activist, and a librarian with the Queens Public Library in Southeast Queens, New York.

Essie Cynthia Burnley was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, where she graduated with a B.A. from Louisville Municipal College. She met her future husband, Joseph D. Jenkins (1921–2011), a World War II U.S. Army veteran and insurance broker, at a military dance. The couple had one son, Rev. Joseph D. Jenkins Jr. and lived in Springfield Gardens, Queens.

Jenkins Graduated with an MS in Library Science from Pratt Institute in 1966 and worked at Queens Public Library for two decades, beginning in 1962. She worked in every Southeast Queens branch of the Queens Library, including Far Rockaway, Rochdale Village and Cambria Heights, where she served as branch manager. She later sued the city to stop the closure of the Southeast Queens library branches based on their circulation. In 1969, along with fellow librarian Ernestine Washington and others, Jenkins helped to form the Black Librarians Caucus.

1969 was also the year that Jenkins founded the Social Concern Committee of Springfield Gardens, an education program, and through that the Housekeeping Vendor Agency and the Social Concern Community Development Corporation, a home health attendant service was created. At the time of her death these two organizations employed over 2000 people.

Jenkins took her first steps in politics in the early 1970s, when she was appointed to the state committee for the 29th Assembly District. Jenkins became a Democratic district leader for the 29th Assembly District in 1978. Four years later, when she was successfully elected to that Assembly seat, Jenkins made history as the first African American woman elected to public office in Southern Queens. In her 12 years in the Assembly, Jenkins served as chairperson of the Subcommittee on Affirmative Action and a delegate to the Governor’s Conference on Libraries in 1990 and the White House Conference on Libraries in 1991. In the 1980s she was instrumental in the state’s decision to bring a Veterans Home to St. Albans. As a former librarian, Jenkins was known in Albany as an advocate for libraries, books, and literacy.

Queens Public Library Connection

Peter Magnani (1938-2021) left an indelible mark on the built environment of Queens through his life’s work as an architect and city planner. He shepherded the creation of many of the most important public buildings in the borough over the past 35 years. Peter viewed all his projects through the lens of how they would promote the welfare and quality of life of the community. Fairness, equality and balance were his motivating principles. Queens is home to more green spaces, beautiful libraries and other architecturally noteworthy public buildings thanks to his vision and expertise. Peter started his career in the public sector in 1968 in the Bronx Office of City Planning, rising by 1977 to the position of director. In 1980, he assumed the same post at the Queens Office of City Planning, the borough where he was born and where he lived. In this role, Peter advocated for a mixed-zoning plan for Long Island City to protect the area’s factories and industrial production and the current owners of single-family homes from unchecked high-rise development. His plan permitted construction or expansion of light industry and one- and two-family houses. The plan also called for the preservation for public use of Long Island City’s waterfront, which was no longer heavily used by industry. With an eye to balance and job growth, Peter also got Planning Commission approval for the Citicorp Office Tower in Long Island City. His work set the stage for the current development of Long Island City.

In 1986, Claire Shulman asked Peter to become her deputy. Over the next 16 years as deputy borough president, he planned and implemented the Queens West mixed-use waterfront development and championed the building of the new Queens Hospital Center, the Flushing Meadow Corona Park Olympic swimming pool and ice rink, the Queens Hall of Science addition and Queens Borough Public Library at Flushing. Following Peter’s advice, Shulman allocated funding in the 1990s to restore sections of the 34th Avenue median between 69th Street and Junction Boulevard that had been removed in the 1960s. In the spring of 2020, thanks in part to that green median bisecting the street, 34th Avenue became one of New York City’s most successful Open Street projects.

In 2002, Peter became the director of capital program management for the Queens Borough Public Library. In that role, he oversaw the largest and most successful building program in the history of the library. The Children’s Library Discovery Center in Jamaica and notable new branch libraries in Long Island City, Glen Oaks, Elmhurst, Far Rockaway and Hunters Point were all built during his tenure. Peter was instrumental in the selection of Steven Holl and his “Beacon of Light” design concept for the new Hunters Point branch near the waterfront. In addition to the construction of new library buildings, he brought all the branches of the library system into the 21st century by installing machines that patrons could use to check out books on their own.

Alongside his work as a city planner and builder, Peter played an instrumental role in the Towers Cooperative, his home of nearly 53 years in Jackson Heights. In the 1970s, he led a successful tenant-sponsored conversion of this complex of 120 rental apartments into a cooperative and became the founding president of the co-op’s board. Jackson Heights was referred to as the “Cocaine Capital” by New York Magazine at the time, and the success of the Towers conversion to co-op status helped stabilize the neighborhood. In 2010, the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects awarded Peter its Public Architect Award for achieving architectural design excellence in the public realm.

Queens Public Library Connection

Lee Goldman (1925-1986) was a former president and an original board member of School District 26 in Bayside. She was representative to the Consultative Council of the Central Board of Education and served on numerous committees. In addition to her District 26 responsibilities, Goldman was active in the Oakland Terrace Civic Association, on the Executive Board of the Queens Borough Library Council, and was the educational representative for the Girl Scouts Maple Leaf District.

A native of New Bedford, Massachusetts, her family moved to the Bronx in 1928, and she eventually lived in Bayside. After taking part in community affairs including her local Parent Teacher Association, she joined the school board in 1970, serving as president from 1970-71 and again from 1983-84. She was predeceased by her husband, David, in 1976, and survived at the time by two daughters, a brother, and a granddaughter. The section of 67th Avenue in Bayside from 230th Street to 233rd Street is named in her honor.

Queens Public Library Connection

Lew Simon (1959 – 2021) a longtime community activist and leader in the Rockaways, and Democratic District Leader for the 23rd Assembly District since 1994.

Born and raised on the Rockaway Peninsula, Lew was an outspoken advocate for better public transportation, expanded library services and the elimination of the Cross Bay Bridge toll for local residents of Broad Channel and the Rockaway peninsula. He led the fight to keep St. John’s Episcopal Hospital open and was a fixture at local community board and precinct council meetings. He also served as the President of the Good Government Regular Democratic Club, regularly bringing Democratic candidates to the peninsula to introduce themselves to the community at various meetings and events. He was honored by NYC Mayors Giuliani, Bloomberg and de Blasio for his record of community service. He died on November 6, 2021 of cancer.

Queens Public Library Connection

Priscilla Carrow (1955–2020) dedicated her life to the East Elmhurst/Corona community.

She worked with the New York State Department of Labor and the NYS Senate. In 1994, she joined NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst. She was a member of the Communications Workers of America Local 1180 starting in 2006 and served as a Senior Shop Steward.

Carrow was a long-time member of Queens Community Board 4, the Executive Director for the Lefrak City Youth and Adult Activities Association, and the Program Director for the Kenny Anderson Basketball Classic. She served as a delegate for the 11th Judicial Convention and was a County Committeeperson for the 35th Assembly District in Queens County.

Carrow also chaired the National Council of Negro Women/Empress Life Members Guild and served as secretary for the Better Community League (BCL) and as a member of the Ericsson Street Block Association (27th & 29th Avenues). Additionally, she was a member of the Frederick Douglass Democratic Association, the Corona East Elmhurst NAACP, and Friends of the Queens Library. She also served as chair of the EHC Sports and Recreation Committee, a member of the You Can Go To College Committee, co-founder and vice president of the Democratic Association of the 21st Century Club, president of the Sherwood Village Tenant Association, and a member of the First Baptist Church. She died of complications from COVID-19.

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.

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

Samuel Jayson LeFrak (1918-2003) was a major real estate developer of middle-income housing in the post-World War II era. He led the LeFrak Organization (originally spelled Lefrak and pronounced le-FRAK) for more than four decades in building apartments and homes both in and around the New York City area, while later leading successful ventures in other businesses, including oil and gas exploration, and entertainment. Among his most iconic ventures was LeFrak City, an apartment development in southeastern Corona that was built from 1962 to 1971. The community offers 4,600 units and is home to about 15,000 New Yorkers.

LeFrak was born on February 12, 1918, in Manhattan to Harry LeFrak, who migrated from France, and Sarah (Schwartz) LeFrak, originally of Belarus. He grew up in Brooklyn, attending Erasmus High School in Flatbush, and he graduated from the University of Maryland in 1940. That same year, he began working full time in his family’s business, and he later studied finance at Columbia University and the Harvard Business School. In 1941, he married Ethel Stone, who attended Barnard College.

Harry LeFrak launched the LeFrak Organization as a construction company in 1905 and was joined a few years later in running the business by his father, Aaron, who had been an architect and builder in France. Samuel LeFrak took over as president of the company in 1948, eventually ceding that role to his son, Richard, in 1975, while retaining the title of chairman. Recognizing the growing need for affordable middle-income housing in New York City after World War II, LeFrak devoted his life and career to meeting that demand. Under his leadership, the LeFrak Organization specialized in building six-story apartment buildings featuring two-bedroom and two-bathroom apartments. He used what he called the “Four S Principles” when designing and building—that properties should be safe, and close to subways, shopping, and schools.

During his lifetime, his company built nearly 200,000 rental units in New York’s five boroughs and the greater metropolitan area. He was knowledgeable in housing and energy technology, serving in an advisory role to New York City mayors, New York governors, and U.S. presidents. He served on key national and state councils and also represented the U.S. internationally, advising various countries on land development. LeFrak later ventured into the music business, co-founding a recording label called The Entertainment Company, and working with artists such as Dolly Parton, Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand, and Glen Campbell, before that business broke up in 1984.

A philanthropist of considerable means, he left a lasting mark on the cultural and educational landscape, with numerous buildings and spaces bearing his and his wife’s names. Among these many sites are the Samuel J. and Ethel LeFrak Concert Hall, located at the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College, and the Queens Public Library at Lefrak City. He received numerous honorary doctorates, including recognition from Pratt Institute, New York Law School, Colgate University, Michigan State University, Queens College, St. John’s University, and the University of Maryland. LeFrak died from complications of a stroke on April 16, 2003, at his home in Manhattan. He was survived at the time by his wife, Ethel (who died in 2013), and their children, Denise, Richard, Francine, and Jacqueline, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Opening in 1966, the Queens Public Library at Lefrak City was originally located in Corona at 98-30 57th Avenue. However, the location closed in 2021 following flooding caused by Hurricane Ida. A new 8,300-square-foot facility, to be located at 95-15 Horace Harding Expressway at Junction Boulevard, will eventually house the new Lefrak City Library, and the space is undergoing a $9.8 million renovation with an opening date to be announced.

Queens Public Library Connection

Helen Marshall (1929-2017) was the first African American Queens Borough President from 2002 – 2013.

Marshall was born in Manhattan to immigrant parents of African descent from Guyana. The family moved to Queens in 1949, settling first in Corona and then in East Elmhurst. Marshall graduated with a B.A. in education from Queens College. After teaching for eight years, she left to help found the Langston Hughes Library in 1969, where she was the first Director. She served as Director for five years, leading the library to become a vital resource on African American History in Queens. She later served in the State Assembly for 8 years and then served on the City Council for 10 years, before becoming the first African American and the second woman to serve as the Queens Borough President.

She supported job training programs and economic development and was a devoted supporter of the Queens Public Library. In 2004-2005 she dedicated $27 million of discretionary funds toward library expansions and improvements, including new branches and the (now named) Helen Marshall Children's Library Discovery Center at the Central Library in Jamaica.

Other places in Queens named for Helen Marshall are: Helen Marshall Boulevard, The Helen Marshall Playground, and The Helen M. Marshall School.

Queens Public Library Connection

Sheila Pecoraro (d. 2014) campaigned in 1970 for funding for the Rosedale Library and led the sit-in that prevented the library from closing during the city’s fiscal crisis. She fought for the placement of traffic lights at a five-way intersection in her neighborhood, which have now saved many lives. She served on the PTA executive boards of several schools, becoming the president of both JHS 231Q and Springfield Gardens High School. She also fought to ensure that students of Rosedale could attend K–8 schools. For 15 years, she served on the executive board of the 105th Precinct Community Council, acting as president for nine of those years.

Queens Public Library Connection

Marc A. Haken (d. 2023) was a Hollis teacher, youth mentor, volunteer, and civic leader in community affairs. He served for two decades on Community Board 8, including as chair of the Youth, Education and Library Committee, for 25 years as president of Hilltop Village Co-Op No. 4 in Holliswood, and for over 20 years as president of Friends of Cunningham Park. In his advocacy for Cunningham Park, he secured thousands of dollars in funds for equipment and programming, including summer concerts and theater, movie screenings, health fairs, and youth and senior programs.

Born and raised in Jamaica, Queens, Haken attended Richmond High School in Richmond Hill. He studied at Queens College, Keystone Junior College, and American University, and went on to teach social studies and history in New York public schools beginning in the mid-1960s, including at Junior High School 109 in Queens Village. After his retirement in 1995, Haken maintained friendships with many former students and continued to serve as a mentor and a strong advocate for young people. His ongoing community service and leadership led then-City Councilman David Weprin to hire Haken as community liaison for District 23.

Haken’s dedication to his community included the library. He donated thousands of dollars in books to Queens Public Library and helped create after school programs throughout the City. He also helped the borough’s Sikh community donate books on Sikh culture to the Queens Public Library to help counteract prejudice after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In 2011, he was nominated for the Brooke Russell Astor Award from the New York Public Library, which “honors an unsung hero or heroine who is relentless in his or her dedication to the City and who has contributed substantially to its betterment.”

After losing a battle with cancer, Haken died on March 17, 2023. On October 29, 2023, a dedication ceremony was held to co-name a section of Francis Lewis Boulevard between 204th Street and Epsom Course as Marc A. Haken Way. It is located in the heart of the neighborhood where he lived, and near the school where he taught and the park and community he served.

Queens Public Library Connection

William H. Pease, Jr. (1921-2004) was a professor, a former engineer, and an advocate of the study of African American history. He served in the United States Army Air Corps as a weather observer during WWII and was stationed for a period in Tuskegee, Alabama as part of the Tuskegee Airmen. He won accolades as the Tuskegee Airmen welterweight champion in 1945.

Born in Harlem, Pease graduated from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn and Fordham University, and he and his wife, Louise, raised their daughter, Denise, in Corona. He went on to work as a senior instructor at RCA Institute, a microwave engineer at Tung-Sol Electronics, and for more than two decades, as an educator at Suffolk County Community College, where he was a professor of electrical engineering and assistant dean of instruction. He was the first full-time African American administrator at the college, and the first African American president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.

Pease gave back to his community in many ways, including sponsoring a scholarship awarded through the Central Brooklyn Martin Luther King Commission to student winners of essay and art contests. In the 1970s, Pease also served on the board of the Langston Hughes Branch of the Queens Public Library.

Through his career, he received awards from the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, the New York University Weekend Tutorial Project, the Professional Achievement Award of the Brownsville Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the Teacher of the Year Award from the New York University Outreach Program for Mathematics and Science, the Mary McLeod Bethune Award for the motivation of black youth, and a proclamation from the Suffolk County Executive for outstanding service and leadership.

His daughter, Denise Pease, a longtime government leader, went on to serve under President Obama as Regional Administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration Northeast and Caribbean Region, as well as on President Biden’s Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans.

In honor of his dedicated community service, the intersection of 104th Street and 35th Avenue in North Corona is co-named Professor William H. Pease, Jr. Way.

Queens Public Library Connection

Jeanne Elmezzi (1910–2005) was a philanthropist from Long Island City. Jeanne was married to Thomas Elmezzi (1914–2005), a chemical engineer who played a significant role in the development of the Pepsi Company. In 1931, alongside his mentor, John Ritchie, Thomas revised and developed a new formula for the soft drink and went on to work as the Worldwide Head of Production for the company, opening bottling plants around the world. In 1996, the Elmezzi’s formed the Thomas and Jeanne Elmezzi Foundation, dedicated to supporting programs that directly aids individuals who face physical, medical, economic, or educational challenges. Until their deaths in 2005, both Jeanne and Thomas remained active in the work of their foundation.

Born Jeanne Mastronardi in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she was the daughter of Italian immigrant parents and the youngest of four children. When she was 17 months old, her father became ill, and Jeanne was sent to live with her mother’s sister, Lucia Carra, at 1830 25th Road in Astoria, where Jeanne was raised. In 1913, Jeanne’s father died of osteo-articular tuberculosis. In 1928, the Elmezzi family - Thomas’s parents also having immigrated from Italy - moved across the street, and Jeanne and Thomas grew up as neighbors. They both attended City College in 1938 and were married a year later. After graduating from City College, Jeanne worked for a period as a substitute teacher. Thomas received his degree in chemistry in 1939 from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

The couple settled in Astoria at 27-10 Newtown Avenue. In 1953, they moved to a five-room apartment in Great Neck, New York, where they lived for more than fifty years. During the early years of their marriage, Jeanne traveled with Thomas around the world as he set up bottling plants for Pepsi. Thomas retired from the company in 1968 but stayed active in other business ventures.

Jeanne was an avid reader, a passion that helped inspire the Foundation’s board members to support the Queens Public Library. In 2008, the Thomas and Jeanne Elmezzi Foundation pledged a $6 million gift to the library to establish the Jeanne Elmezzi Long Island City Adult Learning Center at the Long Island City branch, located at 37-44 21st Street, and a dedication ceremony for the new Center was held on June 21, 2008. In 2025, the Center celebrated a reopening following a renovation, again supported by the Foundation, that included new flooring, new furniture, and 20 new public computers.

Queens Public Library Connection

Giacomo “Jack” Virdone (1941-2020) was a well known Queens restaurateur born in Sicily. After immigrating to the United States, he started his career as a dishwasher and eventually became the owner of Alba's Pizzeria and Restaurant in Briarwood. Under Virdone's leadership, Alba's became known for its authentic Italian cuisine, which relied on traditional cooking methods and classic recipes. The restaurant's reputation for excellence brought it international attention when it catered for Pope Benedict XVI during his 2008 visit to New York City.

Virdone was remembered for his warmth and deep commitment to the Briarwood community. He consistently supported local Lions Clubs by contributing to fundraising and offering his pizzeria as an event space. He also donated a scoreboard to Archbishop Molloy High School and regularly provided pizzas to local public schools and community organizations. Additionally, he supported park cleanups in Briarwood and contributed meals to the Friends of the Queens Public Library.

Jack "Giacomo" Virdone Way is located at the intersection of Queens Boulevard and 84th Drive, the site of Alba's Pizzeria and Restaurant.

Queens Public Library Connection

Frank “Sha” Francois (1965-2023) was an activist from Queens Village who worked in support of many community causes and organizations to fight for justice and equality, including Stop Mass Incarceration, The New Black Panther Party, Shut Down Rikers, and others. An advocate for participation in the democratic process through grassroots political action, he ran as a Green Party candidate for the United States House of Representatives in 2016 and the New York City Council in 2017.

Francois was born in Washington, D.C., to a father who migrated from Trinidad and Tobago in 1964 and a mother who was originally from Dorchester County, Maryland. He was the oldest of their five children. Raised in southeast Queens, Francois was incarcerated on Rikers Island in 1991, serving a sentence of five and a half years for three felonies. By 2011, he had begun to work full-time as a community activist.

On November 8, 2014, Francois joined protesters, including former inmates, outside the Rikers Island jail complex in New York City to demand reforms. Representing the New Black Panther Party, Francois said he had been severely beaten while incarcerated there.

A member of the Democratic Party from the age of 18, he later joined the Green Party, noting their closer alignment with his beliefs in activism and community empowerment. Francois was the Green Party’s congressional candidate for District 5 in Queens in 2016. A year later, while running as the party’s candidate for New York City Council District 27, he advocated for an end to corporate control of politics, the prevention of police brutality, and the legalization of marijuana for medicinal and recreational use.

Francois was also a member of The Peace Keepers, Wrongfully Convicted, the Prison Reform Movement, Boycott the NFL, Support Black Businesses, and October 22 National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, among other organizations. He worked at Project Hope – The New Direction, Inc. for more than 10 years, and also facilitated chess clubs and mentorship workshops at the Queens Village Library, churches, and public schools.

In 2025, the corner of 220th Street, between 104th Avenue and 107th Avenues in Queens Village, was co-named in Francois’s honor as Frank “Sha” Francois Way.

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