Long-time Queens Assemblymember Nettie Mayersohn has died

Former Assemblymember Nettie Mayersohn has died. Photo via State Assembly

By David Brand

Former Assemblymember Nettie Mayersohn, who served Central Queens for nearly three decades in Albany and for many years before that as a community activist, has died. She was 96.

Mayersohn represented Assembly District 27, which includes Flushing, Kew Gardens and other sections of Central Queens, from 1983 until her retirement in 2011. She also served as a Democratic District Leader for four decades, beginning in 1972. 

During her time in the Assembly, Mayersohn championed bills related to HIV and AIDS, including the Baby AIDS Law, which compels doctors to inform parents when their babies are born HIV-positive. She also sponsored legislation allowing judges to request that accused rapists be tested for HIV and a measure mandating that people with HIV/AIDS notify their spouses, sex partners and people with whom their shares needles of their status.

“It was sheer insanity the way that disease [AIDS] was treated,” she told the Queens Courier in 2011, after announcing her decision to retire She said she was stepping down so that she could spend more time with her grandchildren. Her former chief of staff, Michael Simanowitiz, won a special election to replace her and served in the Assembly until he died in 2017.

Before Mayersohn was elected to the state legislature, she served as executive director of the state Crime Victims Board and played a major role in organizing the Pomonok Neighborhood Center.

“Nettie Mayersohn's legacy continues to touch countless lives in New York state,” said Assemblymember Daniel Rosenthal, who now represents District 27.

“Through her fierce advocacy on Baby AIDS legislation and strong direction on local issues, Nettie shaped the district I represent today,” Rosenthal said. “Through speaking with constituents and community leaders, it is clear that her leadership and impact will benefit our community for generations to come. She will be sorely missed.”

Mayersohn’s friend Barry Grodenchik, a Northeast Queens councilmember and former community board president, said he considered her a mentor and hero.

“Words cannot possibly convey my sense of loss and what her life meant and means to the people of the community in which I was raised and for New Yorkers everywhere,” Grodenchik said. “She was a rock of integrity and caring and a legislator of the first magnitude.”

Mayersohn graduated from Queens College in 1978 and served a member of Queens Community Board 8.

She is survived by her sons Jeffrey Mayersohn and Hon. Lee Mayersohn, a Queens Supreme Court justice, and four grandchildren.