Abraham D. Beame
| Abraham Beame | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 104th Mayor of New York City | |
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In office January 1, 1974 – December 31, 1977 |
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| Preceded by | John V. Lindsay |
| Succeeded by | Ed Koch |
| 36th and 38th New York City Comptroller | |
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In office January 1, 1970 – December 31, 1973 |
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| Preceded by | Mario Procaccino |
| Succeeded by | Harrison J. Goldin |
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In office January 1, 1962 – December 31, 1965 |
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| Preceded by | Lawrence E. Gerosa |
| Succeeded by | Mario Procaccino |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Abraham David Birnbaum March 20, 1906 London, UK |
| Died | February 10, 2001 (aged 94) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Ingerman |
| Profession | Accountant |
| Religion | Jewish |
Abraham David "Abe" Beame (March 20, 1906 – February 10, 2001) was Mayor of New York City from 1974 to 1978 as a Democrat. As mayor, he presided over the city during its fiscal crisis of the mid-1970s, during which the city was almost forced to declare bankruptcy.
Beame was born Abraham David Birnbaum in London. His parents were Esther (née Goldfarb) and Philip Birnbaum, Jewish immigrants from Poland who fled Warsaw. Beame and his family left England when he was three months old. He was raised on New York City's Lower East Side.
He was a student at P.S. 160, the High School of Commerce, and City College of New York, where he graduated from its Baruch School with honors in 1928 with a degree in business.
While still a student at City College of New York, he co-founded an accounting firm, Beame & Greidinger. After graduation, he also taught accounting from 1929 to 1946 at Richmond Hill High School in Queens, and eventually accounting and commercial law at Rutgers University during 1944 and 1945.
He was appointed New York City's Director of the Budget, serving from 1952 to 1961.
Beame was a "clubhouse" or machine politician, a product of the Brooklyn wing of the regular Democratic organization (that borough's equivalent of Manhattan's Tammany Hall) as opposed to the "reform" Democrats who entered New York City politics in the 1950s. He was a Democrat and was elected to two terms as city comptroller in 1961 and 1969.
In 1965 he was the Democratic nominee for Mayor, but was defeated by the Republican candidate, John V. Lindsay.
Beame defeated State Senator John Marchi in the 1973 mayoral election, becoming the 104th Mayor of New York City. He faced the worst fiscal crisis in the city's history and spent the bulk of his term attempting to ward off bankruptcy.
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Wikipedia