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Affiliation | Liberal |
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Name | Timothy W. Costello |
Address | Staten Island, New York , United States |
Email | None |
Website | None |
Born |
00, 1916
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Died | October 20, 2003
(87 years)
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Contributor | nystate63 |
Last Modifed | nystate63 Nov 11, 2004 09:56am |
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Info | Raised in a Brooklyn tenement with a coal burning stove and a bathroom shared with other tenants, Dr. Costello knew poverty firsthand. His firefighter father died during the 1918 Flu pandemic and his mother supported him and his infant sister on the meager income from her job as Firehouse matron. After considering the priesthood he worked his way through Fordham University as a grocery stock-clerk and soda fountain jerk. He ultimately earned his bachelor, masters and doctoral degrees, and met his future wife (Genevieve) on campus as well.
Following service as a psychologist in the US Army during World War ll, his academic career took shape in 1946 as a professor of psychology and business management at New York University's School of Business Administration. He was such a popular teacher that scores of students would visit him in his home on Staten Island. He became the author of three books, including a textbook still used today and maintained membership in the American Psychological Association and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. He helped establish the Staten Island Mental Health Society, and was an early member of the Staten Island branch of the NAACP. During this period he also started his political involvement, serving in various party positions on Staten Island, including County Chair, and concurrently, in the State Party, culminating as State Chairman in 1962. He ran for office twice on Staten Island: for City Council in 1949 and for Congress in 1962, losing handily in both races.
However, in 1965 as part of the John Lindsay fusion campaign he ran for City Council President, helping the ticket connect with outer-borough and Catholic voters. Mayor Lindsay appointed him as Deputy Mayor/City Administrator, up to that the highest ranking City official ever from Staten Island. He stayed in city service until 1972, when he accepted an appointment as president of Adelphi University in Garden City, Long Island. While there he also served as head of the Nassau County Higher Education Consortium. He retired from Adelphi in 1985. His wife of 58 years (Genevieve) died in 1998. He is survived by three sons, John, Dr. Peter, and Dr. Joseph; three daughters, Jeannie Costello, Mary Kay Theoharides, and Barbara Lyons, and 15 grandchildren.
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