Sanford Garelick, who as a high-ranking member of the New York Police Department worked on several high-profile cases in the 1960s, and as a public official ran for New York Mayor in the 1970s, died on Nov. 19. A lifelong Bronx native, he was 93.
Mr. Garelick, who was the first Jewish chief inspector in NYPD history, and served as City Council President under Mayor John Lindsay in the early 1970s, made an unsuccessful bid to succeed Lindsay in 1973. His opposition to a city-financed expansion of Yankee Stadium eroded his popularity, said Rabbi Alvin Kass, who knew Mr. Garelick since the start of the rabbi’s service as Police Department Chaplain 45 years ago.
Mr. Garelick was also chief of the Transit Police Department in 1975-77, and became director of security for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1977.
Since leaving the law enforcement field, he worked in the private security firm of his son Neal, Rabbi Kass said. “He never retired.
“He was a warm, modest, unassuming person,” the rabbi said. “He really loved to help people.”
An economics graduate – and valedictorian – of the University of North Carolina, Mr. Garelick took, passing with a high grade, the Police Department’s qualifying exam when jobs in economics were scarce. He rose through the ranks, handling such cases as the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X in Harlem, and student demonstrations on the Columbia University campus in 1968.
Mr. Garelick was an active member of the Shomrim fraternal organization of Jewish police officers.” He was proud of his Jewish identity,” Rabbi Kass said.
In addition to his son, Mr. Garelick is survived by a brother, Bernard, and four grandchildren.
