Richard James Sheirer (October 12, 1946 – January 19, 2012) was a

public servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

official. Sheirer served as the director of the New York City Office of Emergency Management (O.E.M.) from February 2000 to March 2002.

Life

Sheirer was born in Brooklyn on October 12, 1946, and raised in the borough's

Canarsie Canarsie ( ) is a mostly residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. Canarsie is bordered on the east by Fresh Creek Basin, East 108th Street, and Louisiana Avenue; on the north by Linden Boulevard; on th ...

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

and

Flatbush Flatbush is a neighborhood in the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood consists of several subsections in central Brooklyn and is generally bounded by Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park to the nort ...

neighborhoods. He graduated from St. Francis College in

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south ...

. Sheirer had begun his career as a

dispatcher A dispatcher is a Communication, communications worker who receives and transmits information to coordinate operations of other personnel and vehicles carrying out a service. Emergency organizations including police, police departments, fire de ...

for the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) in 1967. He was promoted to deputy commissioner under NYC Fire Commissioner Howard Safir. Safir, who became the

New York City Police Commissioner The New York City police commissioner is the head of the New York City Police Department and presiding member of the Board of Commissioners. The commissioner is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the mayor. The commissioner is responsibl ...

in 1996, named Sheirer as his deputy commissioner for

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

and

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

. In February 2000, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani appointed Sheirer as director of the OEM (Giuliani had created the department in 1996). Sheirer was thrust into the public eye in September 2001, when, as director of the OEM during the

September 11th attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, he became responsible for New York City's rescue and recovery effort. Sheirer coordinated the rescue and clean-up efforts at the former

World Trade Center site The World Trade Center site, often referred to as " Ground Zero" or "the Pile" immediately after the September 11 attacks, is a 14.6-acre (5.9 ha) area in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The site is bounded by Vesey Street to the north ...

, involving numerous federal, state, and local emergency agencies. He stepped down as director of the OEM in March 2002 when Mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

took office. Sheirer died at

Beth Israel Medical Center Mount Sinai Beth Israel was a 799-bed teaching hospital in Manhattan. It was part of the Mount Sinai Health System, a nonprofit health system formed in September 2013 by the merger of Continuum Health Partners and Mount Sinai Medical Center, and ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

on January 19, 2012, from a heart attack he suffered in

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

. He was survived by his wife, Barbara Winston, and their five sons: Matthew, Joseph, Christopher, Andrew and Paul. On November 17, 2012 the City of New York renamed the segment of Laconia Avenue near Atlantic Avenue in

Dongan Hills, Staten Island Dongan Hills is a neighborhood located within the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Staten Island. It is on the island's East Shore, Staten Island, East Shore. Dongan Hills is bounded by Laconia Avenue to the southeast, Jefferso ...

where Sheirer had resided to ''Commissioner Richard J. Sheirer Way''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheirer, Richard 1946 births 2012 deaths 20th-century American Jews New York City public officials People associated with the September 11 attacks New York City Fire Department St. Francis College alumni People from Canarsie, Brooklyn People from Staten Island People from Flatbush, Brooklyn New York City Emergency Management People from Williamsburg, Brooklyn 21st-century American Jews