Gary Ackerman
| Gary Ackerman | |
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 5th district |
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In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2013 |
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| Preceded by | Raymond J. McGrath |
| Succeeded by | Gregory Meeks |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 7th district |
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In office March 1, 1983 – January 3, 1993 |
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| Preceded by | Benjamin S. Rosenthal |
| Succeeded by | Thomas J. Manton |
| Member of the New York Senate from the 12th district |
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In office January 1, 1979 – March 1, 1983 |
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| Preceded by | Jack E. Bronston |
| Succeeded by | Leonard P. Stavisky |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Gary Leonard Ackerman November 19, 1942 Brooklyn, New York |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Rita Gale Tewel |
| Residence | Roslyn Heights, New York |
| Alma mater | Queens College |
| Occupation | high school teacher, newspaper publisher |
| Religion | Judaism |
Gary Leonard Ackerman (born November 19, 1942) is a former U.S. Representative from New York, serving from 1983 to 2013. He is a member of the Democratic Party. On March 15, 2012, Ackerman announced that he would retire at the end of the 112th Congress on January 3, 2013 after fifteen terms, and would not seek re-election in November 2012.
Ackerman was born in Brooklyn, the son of Eva (née Barnett) and Max Ackerman. His grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Poland. He was raised in Flushing, Queens. He attended local public schools, Brooklyn Technical High School and graduated from Queens College in 1965. After college, Ackerman became a New York City School teacher where he taught social studies, mathematics, and journalism to junior high school students in Queens.
Following the birth of his first child in 1969, Ackerman petitioned the New York City Board of Education for an unpaid leave of absence to spend time with his newborn daughter but his request was denied, under then existing policy which reserved unpaid "maternity-child care" leave to women only.
In what was to be a forerunner of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, then teacher Ackerman successfully sued the Board in a landmark case which established the right of either parent to receive unpaid leave for child care. A quarter of a century later, now a Congressman, Ackerman in the House-Senate Conference Committee, signed the report of the Family and Medical Leave Act which became the law of the land.
Ackerman's second career move occurred in 1970, when he left teaching to start a weekly community newspaper in Queens called The Flushing Tribune which soon became the Queens Tribune. Ackerman served as its editor and publisher.
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