A woman who has been compared to a local version of David Axelrod or Karl Rove when it came to mentoring young elected officials will be memorialized in a street renaming tentatively scheduled for May.
Peggy Braverman, deputy county clerk for the Bronx from 1985 to 1999, died on Sunday, March 13, 2011 at age 89, after leaving her mark on the borough by mentoring and guiding a whole generation of elected officials and political players. She was also an employee of the borough president’s office and a board member at Bronx House and the Pelham Parkway Community Council.
Legislation passed by the City Council in a 47 to 0 vote with one abstention on Wednesday, February 29 which will allow for the renaming of the intersection of Matthews and Astor avenues as ‘Peggy Braverman Way.’
Councilman Jimmy Vacca was the force behind the street renaming, and said she was his mentor when first starting out as a community activist and later as an appointed official.
“I first met Peggy in 1970 when she was the president of the Christopher Columbus High School PTA,” Vacca said. “For more than 30 years, very little went on in Pelham Parkway without Peggy’s involvement and counsel. This street renaming honors a woman who was loved and respected by everyone who knew her.”
Braverman served as a mentor to many who went onto make a name for themselves in the field of public service, said her daughter Michelle Braverman-Field.
“If my mother is looking down from heaven, she would be busting her buttons, because she was very dedicated to the community,” Braverman-Field said. “She always tried to help people in our area, where we lived, but also outside the area.”
She helped people get out of poverty, and tried to help friends and neighbors not for any monetary gain, but because she truly liked to help people, Braverman-Field said.
Peggy Braverman served as mentor to Robert Nolan, Senator Jeff Klein, former councilman and assemblyman Steve Kaufman, longtime Community Board 12 chairman Father Richard Gorman, and many others, Braverman-Field stated.
“Peggy was a very special woman and loved by all those who came into contact with her,” said Robert Nolan, former Budget Director for the Office of the Bronx Borough President and friend of the Braverman family. “She dedicated her life to her family, her community, and especially to all people in need. We are extremely proud of her record of service and her love for her friends in all Bronx neighborhoods.”
