Brooklyn loses Martin Schneider, 91, ardent activist for historic preservation of Brooklyn streetscapes
Martin Schneider, an ardent Brooklyn historian, warrior for urban quality of life and preservationist, died June 30 following complications from heart surgery. He was 91. Schneider was an active leader in quality of life issues, particularly in his beloved Brooklyn Heights, since the 1950s.
Dedicated to protecting quality of life in the Heights since moving there with his wife, Rona, in 1957, Schneider played a key role in fighting “master builder” Robert Moses’ plans to condemn large parts of the neighborhood in the name of “slum clearance.” History will show that anyone who loves Brooklyn Heights — loves the trees of Cadman Plaza Park, the open-air space of Pineapple Walk, the nineteenth-century Greek Revival brownstones on Henry Street — owes a major debt to Schneider, whether they realize it or not.
“It was on one evening in late September or early October 1958 that it all started,” remembers renowned Brooklyn preservationist Otis Pearsall. “Richard Margolis, editor of the Brooklyn Heights Press, invited me to a meeting in the undercroft of Don McKinney’s Unitarian Church, where a small group of young professionals recently arrived in the Heights were gathering to discuss housing issues triggered by Robert Moses. Martin, already recruited by Margolis, was there and we hit it off straight away. Within weeks we were co-chairing an activist group we called the ‘Community Conservation and Improvement Council,’ shortly to be absorbed by the Brooklyn Heights Association, through which we supported each other in rallying the neighborhood behind our respective priorities, his to battle Moses on Cadman Plaza and mine to preserve the esthetic and historic heritage of the Heights. The rest, of course, is history … Martin was a one-of-a-kind force.”