Longtime Parks Commissioner, Inwood Native, Dies At 83

INWOOD, NY — Longtime New York City Parks Commissioner Henry Stern — who served under two different administrations for the second-longest tenure in the post — died Thursday at the age of 83, city officials said.

Stern, who was raised in Manhattan's Inwood neighborhood, served as Parks Comissioner from 1983 to 1990 for Mayor Ed Koch and from 1994 to 2002 for Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Several Parks Department programs such as the Greenstreets program, the City Parks Foundation, the Partnerships For Parks and the Prospect Park Alliance were founded during Stern's time at the helm of the department.

"The longest serving Parks Commissioner after the legendary Robert Moses, he was unique, memorable, and most of all a dedicated public servant. We are gratefully for his passion for all things parks; his work brought our City’s green spaces back into the forefront of public consciousness. His legacy will live on eternally," Current Parks Department Commissioner Mitchell Silver said in a statement.

Prior to leading the Parks Department, Stern served for two terms in the City Council as a Manhattan's Councilman-at-large. He was first elected for the post in 1973 and won reelection in 1977, city officials said.

Stern was as almost as well-known for his eccentric behavior as he was for his accomplishments running the city's parks, the New York Times reported in its obituary. Stern was known for his love of costumes, bringing his golden retriever "Boomer" with him on official business and eating directly from cans of soup and peas, the Times reported. He also fancied himself as the founder of a group called the American Association for the Advancement and Appreciation of Animals in Art and Architecture — also known as the AAAAAAA.

The former parks commissioner's legacy is also rife with controversy. In 2008, the city settled a $20 million federal class-action lawsuit that accused Stern's Parks Department of racial bias in hiring setting salaries for parks workers. The lawsuit claimed that black and Latino employees were passed over for desirable Parks Department jobs in favor of less-qualified white workers.

Stern was raised in Inwood and attended Bronx High School of Science, City College and Harvard Law School, city officials said. At 22-years-old, Stern was the younger member of Harvard Law School's class of 1957.

Read the full NYT obituary here.