Abraham David Beame (20 March 1906 – 10 February 2001) was the Democratic Mayor of New York City from 1 January 1974 to 31 December 1977, succeeding John Lindsay and preceding Ed Koch.
Biography[]
Abraham David Beame was born in London, England to Polish-Jewish immigrant parents, and he was raised in New York City's Lower East Side from infancy. He co-founded a New York accounting firm and taught at a Queens high school and at Rutgers University before serving as the city's director of budget from 1952 to 1961, saving the city $40 million and negotiating all city labor contracts without a strike. Beame served as Comptroller from 1962 to 1965 and from 1970 to 1973 before serving as Mayor from 1974 to 1977, backed by Meade Esposito's powerful Democratic political machine in Brooklyn. Beame inherited the worst fiscal crisis in the city's history, and he slashed the city workforce, froze salaries, and reconfigured the budget; while President Gerald Ford initially refused to grant the city a loan, Beame eventually secured one. The chaotic blackout of 1977 spoiled Beame's chances of re-election, but he left office with a budget surplus of $200 million. He worked in investment advising after leaving office, and he died in 2001.