Carol H. Schwartz

1935 - 2020

Schwartz, Carol H. ALBANY Carol Henriquez Schwartz, a woman of strength, purpose, and diverse creativity, died peacefully on December 3, 2020, following complications of a stroke. Carol was the daughter of Anderson Roberson and Pearl Elfreda Goodlow. Born on January 16, 1935, she grew up in an extended family that owned businesses in the Virginia and Washington, D.C. area, before and after the Great Depression. Carol attended Dunbar High School and Howard University. At Howard University, she majored in art history and studied painting. At the age of 20, Carol married Joseph Stephan Henriquez. Joseph was one of the first and highest-ranking Black aviators and test pilots at the time, and a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and other commendations. Carol had three children with Joseph Henriquez: Stephan, Pilar and Joseph. Chafing at the segregation of the deep south in Jacksonville, Fla., where her husband was stationed for basic training and sea duty, Carol obtained a fellowship and left Jacksonville to paint and study art at the Academie Des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France while her husband was at sea. Carol then moved to Naples, Italy where Joseph was stationed with the Sixth Fleet, traveling extensively and becoming trilingual. Upon return to the United States, Carol renovated an 18th century house into her family's home in the Capitol Hill area of Washington, D.C., and embarked upon her passion of design and architecture that would become a central part of her life's work. After her husband's death in 1966, Carol purchased and renovated a larger, abandoned property on Capitol Hill. She converted this building into multiple apartments, then converted an adjacent carriage house into additional units, and became an independent manager of historic residential renovations. In 1974, Carol married her second husband, Russell Schwartz, in Washington, D.C. Russell had returned from several years in Africa, most recently director of the Peace Corps program in Botswana, a newly independent multi-racial country adjacent to apartheid South Africa. Together with Pilar and Joseph, the new family moved to New York City, where Russell was working with Mayor Lindsay's overhaul of New York City systems. There, Carol learned to make fine jewelry. She then created a studio in her East Side home, designing and creating rings and bracelets of gold, diamonds, and semi-precious stones. In 1981, Russell accepted a position as deputy commissioner for Medical Assistance and relocated to Albany. Starting a new chapter together in Albany, Carol renovated two historic brownstone buildings which they had purchased for commercial use. The buildings housed Plaza Office Center (POC), an Executive Suites and office services bureau, which provided a wide range of services for both local and international clients. Carol later purchased at city auction an abandoned row house in the Hudson Park neighborhood of downtown Albany, a structure then devoid of roof, floors, and stable walls. The renovation of this property created for the couple a modern, four story open space home of distinguished character, shown years later on the Hidden City House Tour of 2013. Carol was active in the Hudson Park community, at one point president of the neighborhood association. She helped to forge a compromise for the development of low-income housing between the Albany Area Housing Opportunities organization and local residents. Carol became an avid gardener, using an ever-maturing plot in the garden next to her Hudson Avenue home for many years. She largely introduced the incorporation of flowers amidst the vegetables in this garden, and initiated the planting of shrubs and flowers along the garden's Hudson Avenue border and the neighboring Park. Carol is survived by her husband, Russell Schwartz; son, Stephan Joseph, daughter-in-law, Paulette Zalduondo-Henriquez, and grandsons, Jahan Pablo and Javier Stephan; daughter, Pilar Henriquez Groves, son-in-law, Richard E. Groves Jr. and granddaughter Evin Santana; son, Joseph Mateo Henriquez, daughter-in-law, Keiko Yoshida Henriquez, granddaughters, Felice Hinako, Mariel Kiriko and grandson Kellner Takuma; and her sisters: Cecelia Andrews and daughter, Carla Andrews; and Dr. Flaxie Fletcher, and daughters, Shari Slate and Cristi Peace.