Former NYC Mayor Beame Dead at 94
N E W Y O R K, Feb. 10 -- Araham D. Beame, the diminutive accountant whoserved as the 104th mayor of New York through the darkest days ofthe city's 1975 fiscal crisis, died today, a family spokesmansaid. He was 94.
Beame died of complications after open heart surgery at New YorkUniversity Medical Center, said Howard Rubenstein. Beame had beenhospitalized there since July of last year, Rubenstein said. Beame was the city's first Jewish mayor and the second ex-mayorto die in the last two months. His City Hall predecessor, John V.Lindsay, died in December.
Fought Lingering Criticism for 1974 City Crisis
Beame spent his last years defending his reputation from thosewho said he was a bean-counter who couldn't count — a man who, ascity budget director, comptroller and finally as mayor from 1974through 1977, failed to prevent a fiscal catastrophe. The crisis began when banks refused to buy city notes becausethe city could not provide enough information about uncollectedreal estate taxes. Before it was over, municipal job rolls, salaries and serviceswere cut and a mountain of debt was made manageable by a complexpartnership of union pension funds, banks and the state and federalgovernments. The city was "well on the road to recovery" by the time heleft office on Jan. 1, 1978, Beame insisted. "I inherited a budgetgap of $1.5 billion, and when I left we had a surplus of $200million," he said.
An Unlikely Leader
Beame was an unlikely politician. He was 5-foot-2, soft-spokenand utterly without charisma — everything his predecessor, Lindsay,was not. Lindsay's movie star good looks and political savvy helped quellriots in the city during the tumultuous '60s. Beame was born March 20, 1906. While growing up in New YorkCity, Beame worked in the family restaurant and earned extra moneyby knocking on doors to wake neighbors for work. Inspired byHoratio Alger books, he worked eight hours at a factory whileattending high school. Despite his size, he was known for his toughness — his nicknamewas "Spunky."
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