Sid Davidoff, an iconic figure in NYC’s political scene for six decades with a start in former Mayor John Lindsay’s administration, died on Sunday. He was 86.
Davidoff died at a hospital in the Dominican Republic, where he owned a home in the town of Punta Cana and was battling an infection while recovering from shoulder surgery, according to an article in City&State.
Born in Brooklyn, Davidoff graduated from City College of New York in 1960. He earned his J.D. in 1963 and was admitted to the New York Bar that same year, marking the beginning of his influential career in political and government affairs.
Davidoff made one of his first marks in local politics during the anti-war unrest of the 1960s. In 1968, he was instrumental in resolving a high-profile incident at Columbia University and is credited with negotiating the release of Dean Henry Coleman, who was being held captive inside the school’s occupied Hamilton Hall.
The historic incident was a flashpoint of the tumultuous era, indicative of the widespread anti-war and civil rights movements that defined the late 1960s in the United States.
Sid Davidoff was a ‘full-living guy’
Davidoff is survived by his wife, Linda Stasi, a popular journalist, who told City&State that her husband was “brilliantly smart” and graduated law school at an earlier age than his peers, at the top of his class.
“He was a tough guy, a genuine New York character… who was just the sweetest, kindest person in the world,” she said. “He was so kind to everyone and so generous to everyone, from his family to his friends to anybody that needed anything.”
Friends and colleagues described Davidoff as a political savant—a street-smart master of NYC’s intricate machinery, but with a big, warm personality.
“He just knew the pulse and measure of this city, right down to the ground. He was a natural political operative,” friend and former co-worker Steve Isenberg told amNewYork. “He was a very warm, funny, irreverent, get-to-the-point-of-it person. He was a full-living guy.”
In addition to having a prominent role in NYC politics, Davidoff started the law firm of Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, which specializes in government relations matters.
“He was one of the few people who could operate between mayors and governors,” Isenberg said. “He knew how government worked.”
Finding love, and Lindsay
Richard Esposito — a long-time communications strategist and outside editorial director for Schneps Media, amNewYork’s parent company — recalled that his friend was instantly smitten when he first met his wife Linda while they worked at New York Newsday. Esposito was the city editor; Stasi was their gossip columnist.
“I was there when he was struck down by Linda Stasi’s beauty, and witnessed a courtship as passionate and consuming as one could ever imagine,” Esposito said. “My heart goes out to her.”
Esposito described his friend as a political powerhouse and an iconic figure in NYC.
“A weightlifter, and a heavyweight power broker,” he said. “Starting back during the administration of Mayor John Lindsay, Sid became a central, and central casting, part of the character of New York.”
Having made President Richard Nixon’s list of political enemies, Davidoff did not shy away from voicing his opinions.
“He was very much an unpretentious, no bull s–t but very forceful guy,” Isenberg shared. “He had a lot of insight into exactly what made the wheels turn and who made the wheels turn. He campaigned for hours and hours by Lindsay’s side.”
And he loved his career, Isenberg said.
“He sustained himself on the New York political scene for decades. Many of us went on to other things. He remained in the central life of New York politics and government, city and state. He remained a player. He loved it.”
Current politicians expressed their condolences on Davidoff’s passing, some sharing that he was a legend.
Davidoff’s death prompted an outpouring of remembrances from current politicians, some of whom hailed him as a legendary figure in local politics.
“Sid was a legend. Warm, tough and always generous with his time. A true salt-of-the-earth New Yorker,” NYC Council Member Justin Brannan said.
State Attorney General Letitia James described him as a “brilliant government worker and a great person.”
Davidoff’s death marks the loss of a characteristic voice in New York’s political and governmental scene.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.
