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Badillo, Herman

(Encyclopedia)Badillo, Herman bädēˈyō [key], 1929–2014, U.S. politician, b. Caguas, Puerto Rico, grad. City College (now part of the City Univ. of New York), 1951, Brooklyn Law School, 1954. As a Democrat, he...

Podhoretz, Norman

(Encyclopedia)Podhoretz, Norman pŏdhôrˈəts [key], 1930–, American editor and essayist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., studied Columbia (B.A., 1950), Cambridge. As editor in chief (1960–95) of Commentary, he turned the ...

Wasserstein, Wendy

(Encyclopedia)Wasserstein, Wendy, 1950–2006, American playwright, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. Wasserstein, who made a place on the American stage for contemporary women and their concerns, explored such issues as love, ind...

Gershwin, George

(Encyclopedia)Gershwin, George gŭrshˈwĭn [key], 1898–1937, American composer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Jacob Gershwin. Gershwin wrote some of the most original and popular musical works produced in the United Sta...

Levine, David

(Encyclopedia)Levine, David, 1926–2009, American caricaturist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., studied Pratt Institute, Tyler School of Art, Temple Univ., Philadelphia, and Eighth Street School of New York. Levine's deftly sa...

Louis, Murray

(Encyclopedia)Louis, Murray, 1926–2016, American modern dancer and choreographer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Murray Louis Fuchs. He served in naval intelligence in San Francisco during World War II, then stayed in the...

Murder, Inc.

(Encyclopedia)Murder, Inc., name given to the band of professional killers who operated (1930–40) throughout the United States as the enforcement arm of the Syndicate, composed of the national heads of organized ...

Maxim

(Encyclopedia)Maxim măkˈsĭm [key], name of a family of inventors and munition makers. Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim, 1840–1916, was born near Sangerville, Maine. After launching on a career of inventing, he moved to...

Tooker, George

(Encyclopedia)Tooker, George (George Clair Tooker, Jr.), 1920–2011, American painter, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Harvard (A.B., 1942), studied (1943–45) Art Students League, New York City, with Reginald Marsh. Pa...

Commoner, Barry

(Encyclopedia)Commoner, Barry, 1917–2012, American biologist, educator, and activist, one of the founders of the modern environmental movement, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Columbia (B.A., 1937), Harvard (Ph.D., 1941...