After 20 years as mayor and eight as a trustee, Village of Saddle Rock Mayor Leonard Samansky has spent much of his adult life shaping the village he calls home. It is a responsibility the village’s longest seated mayor still enjoys.
“Shirley lived in Great Neck before I did, so I followed her,” he said of his wife of 35 years. “Whatever you want is right here: swimming, boating, tennis, golf. Why go away? It’s a wonderful place to live.”
The son of a lawyer, the 74-year-old cannot remember wanting to be anything else but an attorney. A specialty in labor law happened by accident, but what he enjoyed was helping people resolve their differences.
During the 1970s, while America’s youth was dancing disco, Samansky had the privilege of arguing a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. He represented management in the equal employment opportunity case.
Although he did not win, the nerve-wracking experience was “very satisfactory.”
“It was very exciting and quite an experience,” he said. “Anybody who says that he or she was not nervous was not telling the truth.”
Recently hospitalized for a minor surgery, Samansky is recovering well.
“When I called the ambulance, I knew everyone would know,” he said. “I’m getting better and anybody told you differently doesn’t know what they are talking about.”
Samansky originally became involved in village politics to help people. Asked his greatest accomplishment as mayor, he said, “The protection of the health and safety of our residents.”
He is also president of the Great Neck Village Officials Association, a position he has held for six years and said he used to help prevent the consolidation of villages on the peninsula.
A 34-year resident of Great Neck, the father of seven and grandfather of four has a political pin collection that includes every election since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Born and raised in Bensonhurst, like many Great Neck residents he once thought Brooklyn was the entire world. It might be where his love of boats began.
“Even as a child, I’m talking about six, seven years old, I drew pictures of boats,” he said. “I went from drawing pictures of boats to making a model of a boat. It grew from there.”
The model, featured prominently in a floor to ceiling bookcase in his study, took him more than three years to finish.
Purchased in a hobby shop in Manhattan, inside the box he was expecting to find small pieces that could be fit together. Instead, it was a block of wood from which he carved every piece. He never made another model boat.
Although it was no yacht, the 24′ sailboat he owned was big enough to cruise Long Island’s waters.
This particular passion is reflected in Samansky’s nautical-themed study, with a marble inlaid chess table, black leather couch, white shag carpet, and antique boating equipment covering nearly every surface.
“Most of it I picked up as junk, and it all works,” he said.
Nestled between legal and nautical books, the careful observer will notice a section devoted to one of Samansky’s lesser known loves.
“I love painting,” he said. “In high school I was scenic director. I did all the scenic creations for the school.”
The only non-nautical item decorating the wall of his study is a piece of the World Trade Center given to him by the New York City Fire Department.
During the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Samansky served as emergency management chief for Nassau County. A fact he said very few people know, when the World Trade Center collapsed it also took out New York City’s emergency management office.
“Nassau County ran the New York City operation for several days until New York City got back on track,” he said. “Within hours of the incident we provided radios and various other equipment to New York City because they had no other means of communication.”
Great Neck residents watched the towers collapse from what has since been dubbed the 9-11 Memorial Bridge. One of the best views in Saddle Rock, the bridge provides an unobstructed look at the Manhattan skyline.
“There were drawings and sayings written on the bridge from 10 years ago,” Samansky said. “From time to time I have noticed, and others have noticed, that these photos are refreshed and renewed.”
His advice for youth?
“Try to do the best you can in whatever it is you decide to be,” he said.
