NYC Mayor First Ladies Over the Years, From Betty Compton to Rama Duwaji

When Zohran Mamdani is sworn in as New York City’s 111th mayor in January, he will unquestionably be sharing that spotlight with his wife, Rama Duwaji. The youthful pair, who each have lived abroad at different points in their lives, may usher in a new vantage point for political power couples. At 28, the illustrator and animator will also be the city’s youngest first lady.

While New York City’s first mayor was elected in 1665, it has only been in the last century that mayors’ wives have become increasingly scrutinized by the public, especially in the last 20 years. 

Looking back at memorable mayors, from Jimmy Walker to Eric Adams, Manhattan Borough historian Robert Snyder cited Bill De Blasio’s wife Chirlane McCray as a first lady “who tried to stake out a role for herself.” Her husband held the office from 2014 to 2021. Within weeks of taking office, the former mayor made her chair of the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City. In that unpaid role, the Wellesley College grad oversaw a multimillion dollar entity that was designed to foster public-private partnerships that focuses on youth development. Her involvement raised questions with some, Snyder said.

For the 2014 inaugural, McCray wore a New York-made coat from Nanette Lepore. Fashion designer Stan Herman said of McCray, “She was very interested in fashion. We gave the mayor a party. She was one of the few people, who really seemed interested that way,” he said.

La Guardia biographer and Rutgers University professor Terry Golway speculated that DeBlasio’s wife may have been the most-active mayoral first lady.

While David Dinkins was in office from 1990 to 1993, his wife Joyce was involved with educational and literacy initiatives. She always did that “in a low-key out of the spotlight way,” Snyder said. The wife of New York City’s first Black mayor was already familiar with political life. Her father, Daniel Burrows, had become one of the first African Americans elected to the New York State Assembly in 1939.

During Michael Bloomberg’s tenure from 2002 to 2013, his longtime partner Diana Taylor served as a de facto first lady, but her dealings in politics and governance were often done “in ways that were designed to make it look like she was above partisanship,” Snyder said.

In 2003, Taylor, a graduate of Dartmouth College and Columbia School of Business, was appointed banking superintendent for the State of New York for a four-year term, before moving into private equity. Civically, she has championed the city by serving on different boards, including Hudson River Park Friends, Brookfield Place and Sotheby’s.

Describing Bloomberg’s longtime companion Taylor as being “very chic,” Herman said, “She blended in so beautifully at all of the parties that I saw her at. Her presence was felt, but she wasn’t overwhelming at all. She was a very cool counterbalance to him.”

A few other mayoral companions have been less visible. Snyder said, “Eric Adams had a girlfriend, but that’s all you knew about her.” Tracey Collins, a New Jersey resident, worked for the Department of Education as an administrator. Their public outings have included the 2022 Met Gala. A former girlfriend of Adams, Jasmine Ray, from his Brooklyn borough president years, is publishing a book about their time together.

At 97, the Seventh Avenue stalwart Herman witnessed his share of mayoral governance, starting with Fiorella LaGuardia, who served from 1934 to 1945. “He was New York bundled up and packaged for the world. I remember him vividly. Of course, I was very young.” Herman said.

Mayor John Lindsay, whose tenure stretched from 1966 to 1973, tapped Herman to serve on Community Board 5, which spans the garment district. The designer caught his attention after staging a fashion show in Central Park. Herman remained involved with the board for 25 years. Herman also knew former Mayor Edward Koch, (one of the former single mayors) “through his poker buddies” at St. Malachy’s Church, and worked with one of his successors, Bloomberg, through the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

As for the mayoral wives, Herman singled out Mary Lindsay for her Hamptons styles and pick-up service. Mayor Lindsay was often on “the cannonball train” that Herman also took in the summer from Manhattan to Southampton, N.Y. “His wife Mary was always waiting for him. She would always be waiting for him at the train station. She was blonde and very pretty. Her style was very simple, but very Southampton,” he said. “She wore Claire McCardell with a little Pauline Trigère.”

Rudolph Giuliani’s second wife Donna Hanover was interested in fashion and “dressed nicely,” favoring skirt suits and other corporate America appropriate styles, Herman said. “She could wear fashion, but she wasn’t a fashionista,” Herman said, adding that she turned up at New York Fashion Week runway shows in Bryant Park on occasion, including Nicole Miller’s 2004 one.

Giuliani’s third wife, Judith Nathan, also turned up at NYFW shows on occasion, such as one for Richard Tyler in 2004. The pair started appearing publicly a few years before 2003, including a surprise late-in-the-program appearance at a New Yorkers for Children benefit at Cipriano’s 42nd Street a week after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The-then mayor encouraged resilience before Placido Domingo sang “God Bless America.” They were joined by the former fire commissioner Thomas Von Essen, who had come directly from Ground Zero.

During Giuliani’s first term, which started in 1994, his wife Donna Hanover was an on-air reporter, “so she had her own life,” Golway said. Their divorce was announced in 2000 and it was finalized in 2002. 

When Robert Wagner was in office from 1954 to 1965, his wife Susan played the part in a more public way, according to Golway. She also conceived and realized Gracie Mansion’s public wing, which was unveiled and named in her honor posthumously, as she died during his third term. Antiques and decorative arts have been donated and continue to be loaned on an ongoing basis. There is also a Susan H. Wagner High School on Staten Island.

La Guardia second wife Marie became “very involved politically,” but that was in his congressional years in the 1920s, not during his 12-year run as mayor that wrapped up in 1946, Golway said. (La Guardia’s first wife Thea died of tuberculosis in 1921 – just weeks after their baby also had died from it too.) Many years later, Marie La Guardia endorsed John Lindsay for mayor for his second term in 1969, and she also supported Mario Cuomo for his mayoral attempt in 1977.

“And let’s not forget the long-suffering wife of Mayor Jimmy Walker, who was basically humiliated in public in the late 1920s. Jimmy was carousing around town with showgirls on his arm, including the one he eventually married after he resigned in disgrace in 1932,” Golway said.

At that time, Walker was removed from office, after an investigation determined that he had accepted money from business owners seeking municipal contracts. Walker and his first wife Janet divorced that year, and he wed the showgirl Betty Compton the following year.

Prior to his downfall, Walker could pack a crowd on occasion, as was the case in 1927, when 1,000-plus members of the Dress Industries of America’s annual trade luncheon turned up to hear his speech.

As for the incoming mayoral first lady, Herman said, “I don’t think she will be a fashionista, but I think she will interested in fashion in her way. She’s the perfect compliment physically to him. They just seem like a fresh breeze onto these old cobblestone streets of New York.”