We’re deeply saddened to note the passing this past week of former City Councilmember and longtime Village Preservation Advisory Board member Carol Greitzer at the age of 101. For seventy years, Carol was a towering figure in Village history, helping to establish Village Independent Democrats and ending Tammany Hall domination of local politics here and in New York City. She also served in the New York City Council representing Greenwich Village from 1969 to 1991, where she was a leading advocate for women’s equality (helping to end the men-only policy at McSorley’s) and helping to spearhead campaigns to save the Jefferson Market Library, the Public Theater, and Washington Square Park. Her contributions were deep and varied, and she will be missed. 

We are deeply gratified that in 1999, Carol sat with us to record a wide-ranging oral history covering her decades of advocacy and activism, and that just a few weeks before her passing she updated the oral history with an addendum. We are now releasing both for the first time, which join more than 75 other oral histories we maintain with great figures in Village history, from Jane Jacobs to Merce Cunningham, John Guare to Mimi Sheraton. 

You can also learn more about Carol Greitzer’s life and legacy through these Village Preservation resources:

• A Century of Impact: Carol Greitzer’s Lifelong Love of New York and Greenwich Village
• Carol Greitzer: Helping Defeat Tammany Hall & Saving Greenwich Village
• Village Independent Democrats Archive 
• Civil Rights and Social Justice Map (see the McSorley’s entry under Women’s History)