BY GABE HERMAN | James McManus, a longtime Democratic district leader who was the last of the party’s Tammany Hall political dynasty, died Feb. 4 in his Hell’s Kitchen home. He was 84.
McManus was the Hell’s Kitchen district leader from 1963 to 2017, and was the leader of the McManus Midtown Democratic Club. The club was founded by his great-uncle Thomas McManus, who was elected in 1892 to the state Assembly. Along with his great-uncle, James McManus’s father and grandfather were also elected district leaders.
The power of local district leaders has waned considerably since Tammany’s glory days. But while the low-ranking, unsalaried party position wasn’t officially very powerful, McManus could help community members with needs that came up.
“We help people with housing and jobs,” he told The New York Times in 1992. “I wouldn’t do anything for money that I wouldn’t do for nothing. What I mean is, a little old lady comes in and wants a favor, I do it. A big law firm wants a favor, I say, buy 50 tickets for my cocktail party. They’re not bribing me. They’re just supporting me.”
With Tammany fading starting back in the 1950s and ’60s, reformers progressively took over the local Democratic Party. McManus represented the party’s old-line faction.
Robert Trentlyon, founding president of the Chelsea Reform Democratic Club, said his Chelsea group favored the new Democrats coming to power in the city. But despite that difference with McManus, he said he had a good relationship with him.
“He was pleasant to me,” Trentlyon recalled. “I was invited to his [annual] dinners and he was invited to ours.”
Trentlyon said he knew James and his father, Eugene.
“They were very prominent in their community,” he said. “He was a good Catholic,” he added, of James.
McManus never married, and he was the last surviving member of his generation in his family. He was born in Manhattan on Sept. 10, 1934, and grew up on W. 49th St. near 10th Ave., according to the Times.
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, whose district includes Hell’s Kitchen, said in a statement to this paper, “Hell’s Kitchen has lost a legend with the passing of Jim McManus. He was a neighborhood icon who commanded respect even from those who disagreed with him. Jim lived a life of service to those around him and I believe that’s how he’ll be remembered. I hope the West Side will join me in sending love and support to his loved ones as they mourn his passing and remember his life.”
Carlos Manzano worked with McManus for 25 years as a former president of the McManus Democratic Association and as a former Democratic state committeeman.
In a statement to this paper, he said, “Jim not only served the public in every possible way but also allowed young people like me and many others to learn, participate and even run for office in the intricate web of community and political affairs. I and many people in New York shall miss his wisdom and kindness.”
