Eleanor Kieliszek, Teaneck's first female mayor, dies at 91

TEANECK — Eleanor Kieliszek, the township's first female mayor, died Tuesday at Holy Name Medical Center. She was 91.

“She was always the voice of reason," said Paul Ostrow, a former Teaneck mayor who served with her on the Township Council. "She didn’t get emotional. She didn’t always agree with everyone, but everyone had a chance to voice an opinion with her.”

Kieliszek was first elected to the council in 1970 and served as a council member for 30 years, including two terms as mayor, from 1974 to 1978 and again from 1990 to 1992.

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Teaneck dedicated a park — Eleanor Manning Kieliszek Greenbelt Park on Billington Road near Route 4 — in Kieliszek's honor in July 2000.

Kieliszek was born in the Bronx in 1925. She moved to Teaneck with her husband, Raymond, and her three oldest children in 1951.

Kieliszek first became involved in public life during the early 1960s when she joined the Teaneck League of Women Voters and was assigned to attend township Planning Board meetings.

“I was interested in it,” she said in an interview with The Record in 2000. “It was important stuff, of course.”

Kieliszek was often the only member of the public in attendance.

“I was their only audience,” she said.

Matthew Feldman, Teaneck's mayor at the time, noted her interest and appointed her to the Planning Board, where she was the first woman member. She was then elected to the council at age 44, beginning a three-decade career in local government.

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Over that time she learned that in politics, things often don’t come easy.

“Sometimes things seem so simple,” she said when she stepped down from the council. “But in government you have to touch a lot of bases.”

Throughout her political career, Kieliszek remained interested in development issues.

One of her proudest achievements was her involvement in the sale of a 350-acre parcel of land to Bergen County, which eventually became part of Overpeck Park, her daughter Catherine Cranford said.

Kieliszek’s second stint as mayor came during a tense time in the township. She was chosen as mayor by her colleagues in July 1990, just a few months after a white police officer shot and killed a black teenager.

“We chose her to be mayor because of her expertise, patience, insight and flexibility during a time when Teaneck was going through tremendous turmoil in the wake of the Phillip Pannell shooting,” Ostrow said. “There was a lot of anger and frustration among the youth, the African-American community and law enforcement ... She allowed everyone to have a voice and was really one of the forces that helped right the ship.” 

Sandy Greenberg, who became the Englewood mayor in 1976, said she and Kieliszek would often talk and share ideas.

“She was so kind to me, so warm and so helpful when I was mayor," Greenberg said. "There were several times when things were going badly in Englewood in the late '70s, and she would call me up and just say ‘Let’s go to lunch.’ ”

Even after she left the council in 2000, Kieliszek stayed involved in local politics.

“I met Eleanor when I first ran for council in 2008. I sat in her house for a good 2½ hours while she talked about the entire history of Teaneck, what it means to be on the council, and what my job would be,” Mayor Mohammed Hameeduddin said. “I’m forever grateful to her.”

After her husband died in 2014, Kieliszek downsized to an apartment, but she insisted on staying in Teaneck. 

“She loved Teaneck, with all its foibles,” Cranford said. “It really was her hometown, even though she wasn’t born there.”

Kieliszek is survived by three children: Catherine Cranford, Claire Preschel and Francis X. Kieliszek. Her daughter Mary Elizabeth Kieliszek died in 2009.

Contributions in her memory can be made to the Friends of the Teaneck Public Library or the Teaneck Community Scholarship Fund. 

A wake will be held at Volk Leber Funeral Home in Teaneck on May 25 from 2 to 6 p.m.. A service is planned for May 26 at 10 a.m. at St. Anastasia's Church in Teaneck.

Email: burrow@northjersey.com