Social Justice Visionary, Great-Grandmother and New Yorker Extraordinaire

Ruth Messinger's Inspirational Story

If you happen to live in New York City, you’ll probably recognize the name and reputation of Ruth Messinger. Now in her 80s, Messinger spent 20 years as an elected official in the City, from 1978 to 1998—and she has reinvented herself several times since then.

Messinger says she loves local politics. “It’s easier to get things done locally than at the state or federal level. You live among the people you represent, and you have all kinds of opportunities to deepen the connections you make.”

Asked to name her top accomplishments during her stint as Manhattan Borough President, from 1990 to 1998, she mentioned several standouts.

First, she expressed pride in having worked with several city agencies to create a path for walkers and bicyclists along the entire periphery of Manhattan, with the exception of a short stretch on the East Side near the United Nations complex. “We’re an island, after all,” she said. “New Yorkers sometimes need to be reminded of that. When you walk or bike along the path, you can see the diversity of our neighborhoods first-hand.” You might not think of the City as “scenic,” but walk along its periphery and you just might change your mind about that.

Messinger is also justifiably proud of having passed legislation to protect whistleblowers. She worked tirelessly on behalf of public education. And she succeeded in landmarking Riverside Park—my own “back yard,” a 4-mile long green refuge that’s a hop skip and a jump from my apartment building on the Upper West Side.

To this day, she told me, people approach her on the street and thank her for what she accomplished when she was on the City Council and later as Borough President—an office she left in 1997 to run, unsuccessfully, for mayor. A staunch Democrat, she lost to the incumbent, Republican Rudy Giuliani.

That year, I hosted a fundraiser at my apartment in support of Messinger’s mayoral run. It was my first interaction with her but not my last.

A formidable presence

Recently, I got to know Messinger when I worked as part-time director of the New York City Chapter of a small nonprofit called The Living New Deal. Its mission is to raise awareness of the New Deal’s achievements—not just its better known programs and policies like Social Security and bank deposit insurance (FDIC) but the infrastructure and architectural wonders that dot the country: more than 18,000 of them and counting.

In addition to special events, webinars and outreach, our group was intent on mounting historical marker signs at or near various New Deal-era sites across the City. We decided to start with 11 public swimming pools, built by the WPA (Works Progress Administration) in 1936. Located in all five boroughs, these Olympic-sized pools are still in widespread use today, mostly by young people. As we saw it, they embodied the democratic spirit of the New Deal.

Shortly before the pandemic tore through the City, our group met with city officials to discuss signage at the pools. Messinger, one of our advisors, joined us.

The agency’s staffers were about to shoot down our idea, saying that all kinds of groups make such requests; granting ours would be tantamount to an unearned honor. That was when Messinger, at her most regal, took over the room. “We’re talking about the Federal Government,” she said, effectively silencing further objections.

The upshot was that the City soon mounted historical marker signs at all 11 pools, including details about their New Deal provenance.

Continual reinvention

Shortly after her mayoral run, Messinger was hired as President and CEO of American Jewish World Service (AJWS). The organization is anything but partisan or ethnically focused. It’s dedicated to promoting human rights in developing countries and launching campaigns to reform international food aid, stop violence against women and LGBTQ+ people, end land grabs and respond to natural disasters around the world.

Under her leadership, AJWS grew exponentially. That’s unsurprising. I think of it as The Ruth Messinger Effect.

Today, she’s working with several city agencies on behalf of asylum seekers. Convinced that there are alternative ways of taking in and housing New York’s newest arrivals, she continues to wield her influence in local politics for the sake of the poor and working-class majority, whether born in this country or not.

She also has 4 part-time jobs.

First, she has transitioned to a different position with AJWS: Global Ambassador. In that role, she works with rabbis, encouraging them to advocate for social justice in the global South.

Second, she contributes to public programming and does some teaching for the Center for Social Responsibility at the Meyerson Jewish Community Center on the Upper West Side, just a few blocks from where she lives.

She’s an adjunct professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she co-teaches classes on leadership, risk-taking and nonprofit management. It’s her own version of Judaism. “My denomination isn’t reform, conservative or orthodox. It’s social justice,” she said.

And last, she works for Elluminate, teaching a network of Jewish women social justice entrepreneurs who work on a wide range of issues, from defending the rights of women in the orthodox community to teaching midwives in Uganda.

Fighting for people

Messinger’s path to ageing is paved with work; the kind of work she has always done, first as a social worker in Oklahoma, where she earned her MSW, and later as co-founder of a progressive primary school in Manhattan, followed by her years in city politics. It’s always about people: the poor, the disenfranchised and the oppressed.

That includes more than 26,000 Gazans who have died (as of February 25) in Israel’s massive, disproportionate and inhumane attacks on that long-occupied strip of land.

During our interview, I refrained from asking her to comment on the conflict out of a sense of discretion and respect. But then I came across a comment of hers that was included in Charles Blow’s February 7 opinion piece in The New York Times. Israel’s way of defending itself, she said, “means death for Gazans, is bad for the future of Israel and will contribute to the rise of antisemitism.”

Ageing lessons

When I asked another octogenarian friend of mine to describe what old age is like, he said, “You stay yourself all the way through.” Well, that view doesn’t apply to me, with my changeable, fickle temperament. But it applies to Messinger in spades. She deals with ageing precisely by staying who she has always been: ethical and principled, a leader and a fighter with a moral compass that keeps her from losing her way.

In addition to her 4 part-time jobs and her advocacy on behalf of asylum-seekers in the City, she also points to her multi-generational household as an antidote to the loneliness and sense of loss that many of us experience as we age. She lives with her husband, Andrew Lachman, her granddaughter and 4 great-grandchildren. “There’s nothing like living with a 4-year-old to keep you energized,” she said, adding that she loves cooking dinner for her beloved multi-generational brood. That’s what she was often doing while attending the Zoom meetings of our Living New Deal Chapter!