Ethel Sheffer

Ethel Sheffer is an urban planner, civic and community leader, and educator. She served as President of the NY Metro Chapter of the American Planning Association for three terms and was named an APA National Fellow in 2012, recognized for her “outstanding contributions” to the field. More recently, she served for six years as the Mayor's Representative on the New York City Public Design Commission.

Ethel has been a community leader and advocate in almost every major development in New York’s Upper West Side, serving over the past several decades as Chairperson of Community Board 7, the Tri-Board Task Force on Columbus Circle, the Riverside Center Working Group, and the Task Force on Zoning 96th Street-110th Street. 

In addition to her work as a community planner and leader, teaching and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students has been an essential part of Ethel’s life from her early years teaching political science to undergraduates and directing the Liberal Studies Program for New York City Police Officers at Brooklyn College to her many years teaching in Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Ethel was married to Isaiah Sheffer, who created and ran Symphony Space for 32 years. This theatre is widely recognized as a major arts venue in New York, and Ethel was a close partner in this great adventure.