NETTIE MAYERSOHN

1924 - 2020

MAYERSOHN--Nettie, who served for twenty-eight years in the New York State Assembly, died in her sleep on August 13, 2020 at the age of 96. She is perhaps best known for her advocacy of the "Baby AIDS Bill." Prior to the enactment of this law, newborns were tested for HIV but the results were not revealed to the parents or physicians of the child. As a result, many infants born with the HIV antibody were routinely sent home from the hospital without treatment. The passage of this legislation saved the lives of many children and served as a model for subsequent federal legislation. In addition to her work on HIV, she is credited with the establishment of stroke centers in the New York City hospital system, better treatment of Lyme Disease cases in New York State, and several pieces of legislation to aid crime victims. As a legislator and community leader she received many accolades and honors. She was the New York State Delegate to the 1977 International Women's Conference, the recipient of the National Conference of Christians and Jews Builders of Brotherhood Award, and the New York State Chapter of the National Organization of Women's Legislator of the Year Award. Nettie Mayersohn was born Nettie Fisher in 1924 and was raised in the Bronx where she attended James Monroe High School. In 1954, she and her husband, Ronald, moved to the new Electchester apartment complex in Flushing where they lived for the rest of their lives. She became active in her Queens community, serving as a PTA president, as a District Leader and then winning a seat in the Assembly in 1982. While a political leader, she earned her B.A. from Queens College, graduating in 1978 on the same day as her son Lee. Prior to her election to the Assembly, she was a secretary at Young Israel of Forest Hills, and Jamaica and Hillcrest High Schools. She also served as Executive Director of the New York State Crime Victims Board. She retired from the legislature in 2011 at the age of 87. To Nettie, community service, friends, and family were everything and she spent virtually every day of her adult life striving to make people's lives better. She served as mentor to an entire generation of Queens political leaders. Most importantly, she was the loving matriarch of a large extended family of siblings, cousins, in-laws, and countless "honorary" family members, presiding over annual gatherings at Circle Lodge in Hopewell Junction, NY. In their twenties, she and her husband took in her husband's younger sister, Karen, raising her as their own. She also helped care for her older sister Pearl until her death. Nettie is survived by her brother Morton Feldstein and his wife Audrey, of Tamarac Florida; her son Judge Lee Mayersohn and his wife Jill; her son Jeffrey Mayersohn and his wife Linda; and her four grandchildren, Andrew, Benjamin, Rebecca, and Anna.