Remembering Lawrence native Carol Berman: A Legacy of Leadership, Service, and Family

The yearbook committee at Erasmus Hall High School, in Brooklyn, predicted that Carol Berman would become the first female manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

That prediction turned out to be wrong. Instead Berman became the second woman from Lawrence to serve in the State Senate.

Not quite one month after celebrating her 100th birthday on Sept. 21, Berman died on Oct. 17, of congestive heart failure. Family members and friends, joined by local religious leaders, filled the Boulevard-Riverside Chapel, in Hewlett, last Friday to celebrate her life.

Rabbi Michael White, of Temple Sinai of Roslyn, who knew Berman personally, opened the service. “She lived an extraordinary life,” White said. “Carol had this unending warmth of kindness, and I can see how she got things done … (She was) a leader to be reckoned with.”

Born in Brooklyn in 1923 near Grand Army Plaza, Berman grew up in a home surrounded by learned people, with a library and museum nearby. She graduated from Erasmus Hall High at 16, and was the class valedictorian. She attended the University of Michigan, where she studied journalism and worked at the Michigan Daily, the weekly student newspaper, and went on to graduate with Phi Beta Kappa honors at age 19.

Berman met her future husband, Jerome Berman — they had the same surname — in 1941, while waiting on line to register for classes. Charles Berman, her son, shared her account of her first date with Jerome in his eulogy. “All the girls got excited, and all waited for my mother to come back from the date, and my mother said, ‘Well, I just went out with the best-looking Jewish boy at the University of Michigan,’” Charles recounted. “After that, they were inseparable.”

They got engaged in 1943, before Jerome enlisted in the Air Force to serve in World War II, and were married the following year.

Jerome, known as Jerry to many, died in 2020. The couple were married for 76 years, and called Lawrence home.

Along with Charles, who is a receiver of taxes for the Town of Hempstead, the Bermans had a daughter, Elizabeth, who has over 30 years of experience in the U.S. Foreign Service, something Charles said her mother was always proud of.

“She had many firsts, even though the Dodgers deserted Brooklyn,” Elizabeth said at last week’s service. “My mother empowered me to have an interesting and fun career. She has empowered our whole family and many people who knew her.

“Thank you for everything, Mom . . . love you forever,” Elizabeth added.

Carol first gained attention for her activism in 1977, when, while chairing the Emergency Coalition, she railed against the noise of supersonic jets landing at Kennedy Airport. She served in the senate for three terms, from 1978 to 1984, before losing the seat to Dean Skelos. Berman followed Karen Burstein, another Democrat who was the first woman from Lawrence to serve in the senate. At the time, the district encompassed southwestern Queens, including several communities surrounding JFK.

After her years in Albany, Berman remained active in public service, becoming involved in the Lawrence Association and serving on the state Division of Housing. She was appointed by Gov. Mario Cuomo to the state’s office of Housing and Community Renewal and the state Board of Elections.

“Politics always interested me,” Berman told the Herald last month. “I loved my constituents, I love people and I enjoy people, as I love and enjoy every single day.”

She was also a district aide in the offices of Assemblyman Eli Wager and U.S. Rep. Herbert Tenzer, and vice chair of the Nassau County Democratic Committee.

“I can only say, as former president of the Mill Brook Civic Association, Carol was always there for us with issues that affected us,” said Mark Tenzer. Herbert was his great-cousin. “You could always reach out to Carol and she was quick to respond. She was a very warm and caring person, and will be greatly missed.”

County Executive Bruce Blakeman, whose father, Robert, was an assemblyman, praised Berman’s public service. “Carol Berman was a hardworking public official who continued to benefit the community long after her service as a senator,” Blakeman said.

Charles Berman said that although his mother has a Wikipedia page because of her political career, she was always a mother first.

“My mother lived a wonderful life,” he said. “On hundred years is a lot to cover.”

Berman was buried at New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon.