On Tuesday, May 2, several dozen people
convened at the Graduate Center for a memorial to Edward T.
Rogowsky, city planner, activist, and professor emeritus of
political science at Brooklyn College, who died on March 18.
“The memorial reinforced the sense of
balance Ed had in his life,” said Ernesto Malavé Jr., who
worked with Rogowsky on the CUNY Internship Program in Government
and Public Affairs. “Ed dealt with power brokers and the
powerless the same way—with candor and respect. He was a mentor
and advocate to some people, but his public service was for all
people. If Ed focused
all the energy he used helping others on himself he would have
been the first openly gay Mayor of New York City...a long time
ago.”
Rogowsky was director of the CUNY Internship
Program in Government and Public Affairs, now renamed in his
honor. Since 1992, he
was also city editor of CUNY-TV and host of “MetroView,” the
station’s weekly public affairs program. In 1990, Rogowsky was
appointed to the 13-member New York City Planning Commission by
Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden; he was also the founding
director of the Brooklyn College Graduate Center for Worker
Education.
Kenneth Sherrill, a political science
professor at Hunter, told Clarion, “In the past decade, Ed’s
work focused on the things I care about most deeply, which were
integrating the University fully into the life of the city and
developing new generations of leadership from our students.
In that he was a master.
He combined an extraordinarily ebullient spirit with an
intimate knowledge of the city and the professional skills of a
political scientist. He
was famous to everyone who worked with him, but he never hogged
the limelight.”
“Ed was generous and spirited,” said PSC
University-Wide Officer Stanley Aronowitz. “He was also a
shining example to all of us on how to use the media to advance
not only labor’s interests, but also those of New York City.”
PSC Senior College Officer Nancy Romer, a professor of psychology
at Brooklyn College, said that Rogowsky’s generosity was a
constant theme at the memorial—as well as “his love of New
York, love of Broadway tunes, and appreciation for the diversity
of people and points of view.” Ed Rogowsky, she said, “could
talk to everyone.”