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Community tribute remembers Shira Lotte Kane, longtime Rockland civil‑rights advocate
Summary
A speaker at a recent meeting read a tribute recounting Shira Lotte Kane’s life and six decades of service, noting her role as the first African American executive director of the Rockland County Commission on Human Rights and her work on fair‑housing efforts.
A tribute read during a recent public meeting remembered Shira Lotte Kane, who was described as a lifelong humanitarian and a longtime civil‑rights leader in Rockland County.
The reader said Kane was born in 1922, grew up in Sparkhill, New York, and was the third of six daughters who attended the historic Saint Charles AME Church, founded in 1865. “Lotte was known for her kindness and dedication to helping others. She was a true humanitarian,” the speaker said, describing Kane’s decades of community work and volunteerism.
According to the tribute, Kane attended Sparkhill Elementary School and graduated from Topan Zee High School, earned an associate degree from Brooklyn Community College and worked in several public‑facing roles. The speaker said Kane began as a community worker at the Department of Labor, helping African Americans find better jobs, and later worked at Stony Brook University Hospital where she “made sure all workers were treated fairly.”
The tribute noted a major turn in Kane’s career in 1981, when she became executive director of the Rockland County Commission on Human Rights, and said she was the first African American to hold that position. The reader credited Kane with handling complaints about discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations and with helping to create an organization that built affordable housing.
The speaker also said Kane helped pass Rockland County’s first fair‑housing law in 1983. The tribute added that Kane received many awards for her community work and that she was honored in February 2023, at age 100, by Spencer Chumbay, identified in the tribute as the current executive director of the Rockland County Commission on Human Rights. The reader said Kane “passed away a year ago” and that her legacy of more than 60 years of service will be remembered.
The remarks concluded with a short set of listener questions, indicating the segment was presented as a biographical tribute rather than a request for action by the body hosting the meeting.
