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Crown Heights, Brooklyn

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Profiles

  • Harold S. Koplewicz
    Harold Samuel Koplewicz (born January 12, 1953) is a nationally known child and adolescent psychiatrist. He is the founder and president of the nonprofit Child Mind Institute and editor-in-chief of the...
  • Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. (1822 - 1903)
    Frederick Law Olmsted April 26, 1822-August 28, 1903 Parents: John Olmsted d. 1873 and Charlotte Law Hull d. 1826 Wife Mary Perkins Olmsted, widow of his brother John Olmsted Children: Adopted his wife...
  • Stuart Scharf (1941 - 2007)
    Stuart Martin Scharf (1941 - November 8, 2007) was an American composer, guitarist, and record producer. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0) Sources "Stuart Scharf." Wikipedia , revision of 28 December 2023...
  • Chris Rock
    Julius Rock III (born February 7, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of al...
  • Joan Rivers (1933 - 2014)
    Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and television host. She was noted for her often co...

Please add profiles of people who were born, lived or died in (or were notable for their ties to) Crown Heights, Brooklyn.



Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Crown Heights is bounded by Washington Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Ralph Avenue to the east, and Empire Boulevard/East New York Avenue to the south. It is about one mile (1.6 km) wide and two miles (3.2 km) long. Neighborhoods bordering Crown Heights include Prospect Heights to the west, Flatbush and Prospect Lefferts Gardens to the south, Brownsville to the east, and Bedford-Stuyvesant to the north.

The main thoroughfare through this neighborhood is Eastern Parkway, a tree-lined boulevard designed by Frederick Law Olmsted extending two miles (3.2 km) east-west. Originally, the area was known as Crow Hill. It was a succession of hills running east and west from Utica Avenue to Washington Avenue, and south to Empire Boulevard and East New York Avenue. The name was changed when Crown Street was cut through in 1916.

The northern half of Crown Heights is part of Brooklyn Community District 8 and is patrolled by the 77th Precinct of the New York City Police Department (NYPD). The southern half is part of Brooklyn Community District 9 and is patrolled by the 71st Precinct of the NYPD. Crown Heights's primary ZIP Codes are 11213, 11216, 11225, 11233, and 11238. Politically, it is represented by the New York City Council's 35th, 36th, and 41st Districts.

Notable people with ties to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, from Wikipedia:

  • Ahmed Abdul-Malik (1927-1993), jazz double bassist and oud player
  • Abraham Abraham (1843-1911), businessman who was the founder of the department store Abraham & Straus in 1865
  • Dinah Abrahamson (1954-2013), author and politician
  • Brittany Adebumola (born 1996), actor
  • Bob Arum (born 1931), founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company
  • Abraham Beame (1906-2001), 104th mayor of New York City, serving from 1974 to 1977
  • Sam Ash (1897-1956), violinist, teacher, and founder of the Sam Ash Music Store
  • LeRoy Battle (1921-2015), World War II pilot, Tuskegee Airman, teacher, and jazz musician
  • Robert S. Bennett (born 1939), attorney who represented President Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal
  • William Bennett (born 1943), Secretary of Education under President Ronald Reagan
  • Yaacov Behrman, rabbi and a liaison for Chabad Headquarters
  • Oni Blackstock, primary care and HIV physician, researcher, and founder of Health Justice, a racial and health equity consulting practice
  • Uché Blackstock, physician
  • James Bouknight (born 2000), professional basketball player
  • Janicza Bravo, film director, film producer, and screenwriter
  • Buckshot (born 1974), rapper
  • Bulletproof Stockings, Hasidic alternative rock band
  • Karim Camara (born 1971), pastor and former Democratic member of the New York State Assembly
  • Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005), educator and politician
  • Iris Cantor (born 1931), philanthropist[citation needed
  • Clive Davis (born 1932), music industry executive
  • James E. Davis (1962-2003), police officer, corrections officer, councilmember, minister and community activist
  • I. A. L. Diamond (1920-1988), Romanian–American screenwriter
  • Byron Donalds (born 1978), politician and businessman serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 19th congressional district since 2021
  • Dyme-A-Duzin (born 1992), rapper, singer, songwriter and actor
  • Israel Englander (born 1948), billionaire hedge fund manager
  • Joseph Esposito (born 1950), NYC Emergency Management commissioner, started as a beat cop in Crown Heights
  • Sabaah Folayan, filmmaker and activist
  • Phara Souffrant Forrest (born 1989), member of the New York State Assembly from the 57th district
  • Donald Forst (1932-2014), newspaper editor
  • Avraham Fried (born 1959), Hasidic singer
  • David Garth (1930-2014), political advertising consultant
  • Yitzchak Ginsburgh (born 1944), American-born Israeli rabbi
  • Yisroel Goldstein, founder of Chabad of Poway
  • Richard Green (1936-2019), sexologist, psychiatrist, lawyer and author
  • Allen Grubman, entertainment lawyer
  • Maggie Haberman (born 1973), journalist
  • Jesse Hamilton (born 1964), lawyer and politician
  • Hebro (born 1987), rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer
  • Jamie Hector (born 1975), actor, portrays Marlo Stanfield on the HBO series The Wire
  • Sidney "Sonny" Hertzberg (1922-2005), professional basketball player who played for the New York Knicks
  • Regina Herzlinger (born c. 1944), professor at Harvard Business School
  • Bunny Hoest (born 1932), comic strip writer
  • Gavriel Holtzberg (1979-2008), murdered Orthodox rabbi and Chabad emissary to Mumbai, India
  • Herbert E. Horowitz (1930-2019), diplomat
  • J.I the Prince of N.Y (born 2001), rapper
  • Combat Jack (1969-2017), hip hop music attorney, executive, journalist, editor and podcaster
  • Simon Jacobson (born 1956), rabbi, author and journalist
  • Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson (born 1972), rabbi and orator
  • Hakeem Jeffries (born 1970), U.S. Representative (NY-8), leader of the House Democratic Caucus, and House Minority Leader
  • Ruste Juxx (born 1978), rapper
  • Jason Katims (born 1960), television writer, producer and playwright
  • Harold S. Koplewicz (born 1953), child and adolescent psychiatrist
  • Carol Laderman (1932-2010), medical anthropologist
  • Mordechai Lightstone (born 1984), Chabad rabbi and director of social media for Chabad.org
  • Jamila Lyiscott, scholar and writer
  • Ivy Mix (born circa 1985), bartender
  • Nas (born 1973), famous hip-hop artist, songwriter, record producer and actor
  • Norman Mailer (1923-2007), novelist, journalist and author
  • Marty Markowitz (born 1945), former Brooklyn borough president
  • Matisyahu Miller (born 1979), reggae artist
  • Stephanie Mills (born 1957), singer
  • Mark D. Naison (born 1946), professor of history and former political activist
  • Otto Neals (born 1931), painter and sculptor
  • Lemrick Nelson (born 1975), convicted of violating Yankel Rosenbaum's civil rights in his murder during the 1991 Crown Heights riot
  • Ludwig Nissen (1855-1924), gemstone dealer and philanthropist
  • Linda Nochlin (1931-2017), art historian best known for her pioneering 1971 article "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?"
  • Chi Ossé (born 1998), politician and activist
  • Lucy Ozarin (1914-2017), US Navy psychiatrist
  • Michelle Paige Paterson (born 1961), First Lady of New York
  • Mendy Pellin, Hasidic comedian
  • Rufus L. Perry (1834-1895), educator, journalist and Baptist minister
  • Mary Pinkett (1926-2003), politician who served in the New York City Council from 1974 to 2001, representing the 28th and 35th districts, who was the first black New York City Councilwoman
  • Harvey Pitt (1945-2023), lawyer and SEC chairman
  • Howard Post (1926-2010), animator, cartoonist and comic strip and comic book writer-artist
  • Aaron Raskin, religious leader, Chabad Lubavitch rabbi and author
  • Richard Reicheg (1937-2021), television, stage, and film actor, musician and Grammy-nominated songwriter
  • Joan Rivers (1933-2014), comedian, actress, producer, writer and television host
  • Chris Rock (born 1965), comedian, actor and filmmaker
  • Moshe Rubashkin (born 1958), businessperson
  • Stuart Scharf (1941-2007), composer, guitarist and record producer
  • Kendall Schmidt (born 1990), television actor (Big Time Rush) and singer
  • Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994), the Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch
  • Meyer Seewald (born 1988) community activist, founder of the Jewish Community Watch, an organization whose mission is the prevention of child sex abuses in the Orthodox community
  • Allie Sherman (1923-2015), National Football League player and head coach
  • Rav Shmuel, Orthodox rabbi, speaker, and musician
  • Sholom Shuchat (born 1984), Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi, dayan and posek
  • Shyne (born 1978 as Jamal Barrow), rapper and politician
  • Carl Sigman (1909-2000), songwriter
  • Beverly Sills (1929-2007), opera singer and administrator
  • Lamont Sincere (born 1989), mixing engineer, singer, songwriter and record producer
  • Mighty Sparrow (born 1935), Calypso musician from Trinidad/West Indies
  • Susan McKinney Steward (1847-1918), first African-American woman to earn a medical degree in New York
  • Aaron Swartz (1986-2013), computer programmer, writer, archivist, political organizer, and internet activist
  • William L. Taylor (1931-2010), attorney and civil rights advocate
  • Ouigi Theodore (born 1975 or 1976), fashion designer and stylist
  • Troy Ave (born 1985), rapper
  • Benjamin Ward (1926-2002), first African American New York City Police Commissioner
  • James Weeks (freedman), namesake of historic neighborhood founded by free African Americans that now is part of the present-day neighborhood of Crown Heights
  • Simcha Weinstein (born 1975), author and rabbi
  • Mendy Werdyger (born 1959), Hasidic Jewish singer, songwriter, and record store owner
  • Perl Wolfe, Hasidic singer and songwriter
  • Yoni Z (born Yoni Zigelboum in 1991), Jewish recording artist, songwriter and entertainer

References