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Abraham D. Beame

Abraham Beame
Abraham D. Beame.jpg
104th Mayor of New York City
In office
January 1, 1974 – December 31, 1977
Preceded by John V. Lindsay
Succeeded by Ed Koch
36th and 38th New York City Comptroller
In office
January 1, 1970 – December 31, 1973
Preceded by Mario Procaccino
Succeeded by Harrison J. Goldin
In office
January 1, 1962 – December 31, 1965
Preceded by Lawrence E. Gerosa
Succeeded by Mario Procaccino
Personal details
Born Abraham David Birnbaum
(1906-03-20)March 20, 1906
London, UK
Died February 10, 2001(2001-02-10) (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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