By MICHAEL SCHENKLER
Publisher, Queens Tribune

As we approach the new millenium and celebrate the Trib’s 30th year covering the news in Queens, we reflect for a moment on the people who helped to get us here.

In the early days of the Tribune, when Gary Ackerman was crusading for his community out of a desk in the back of a real estate office on Main St. in Kew Gardens Hills, I was there. I had no official role; I was a friend. Soon I became contest editor and have enjoyed directing the Trib’s contests through its three decades of publication. I look forward to attacking the fourth decade trying to challenge, befuddle, amuse and inform our readers.

But as the first decade of Trib publishing drew to an end, Gary was off to Albany to serve as State Senator and I was off to the publisher’s desk. My involvement in the borough and the Trib grew in 1982 as I left my full-time position as a school principal to devote my time to this challenging business and borough.

As the 1990s began, the Trib became part of News Communications, a publicly traded company (NCOM: Nasdaq) which presently publishes 23 community newspapers in the New York metropolitan area and one in the nation’s capital. As my role in Queens changed and my involvement in the business world grew, it was still in my borough of Queens that I found journalistic pride and business excitement.

And through the three decades, many people in this borough touched me and, hopefully, I touched many people. As we began our 30th year of publishing, I sat back for a few moments and tried to identify 30 people who helped to shape my Queens and my Queens Tribune, the borough’s community newspaper.

Here, in no particular order, are 30 who over the past 30 years touched me.

• Max Schenkler: Dad, who passed away last year, brought us (mom, my sister Carole and me) to this place called Queens in 1955 and taught us to learn and love.

• Pearl Schenkler: Mom, who set the standards that I still strive to meet. She puts out a pretty mean newspaper herself — The Jewish Women’s International Boca Raton Clarion.

• Gary Ackerman: If he were better looking and thinner, he could be my brother. Thanks for the fun.

• Nick Garaufis: A friend, civic leader and public servant who taught me what it was to fight for community.

• Mike Nussbaum: He’s been there for the past decade as a friend, colleague and someone to lean on.

• Terri Thomson: Her success is well deserved and a wonderful Queens story.

• Donald Manes: I remember him as a nice guy who did a hell of a lot for this borough.

• Dennis Donnelly: In the 80s he gave me a guided tour of the arts, charities and fun side of Queens.

• Claire Shulman: Her love of this borough is the best reason to oppose term limits.

• Alan Gershuny: He wrote, politicked, and played with us, on and off, for all three decades.

• Frank Smith: He knew what the press was all about and helped us to learn.

• David Oats: Trib editor, always — our Billy Martin.

• Marty Lipp: Trib editor who with his news editor Gabe Escobar took us a step further.

• Brian O’Connor: Trib editor who carried the ball so effectively after receiving it from Mitch Albom.

• Today’s Trib staff: Marie, Gary, Jeremy, Lianne & Company who will be part of again taking this marvelous publication to another level.

• Joe Ullman: We wish we still had all the pictures he shot for the Trib and wish they were in color.

• Sam Chen: Our friend and printer of the Tribune for many years, who in 1987, helped the Trib become the first community newspaper to print in 4-color.

• Jedd Moskowitz: He left the Trib to go with Gary and proves that even in the nation’s capital, you can’t take Queens out of the kid.

• Avery Mendez: The Trib story that touched us most – you’ll read about it later in this issue.

• Jo-Ann Jones: She was there then; she’s there now, bringing quality to the arts of Queens.

• Edith Bergtraum: Aunt Edie was the consummate Queens fighter for kids.

• Alan Hevesi: From Queens College hoopster to City leader, we’ve watched him grow, throw elbows and impress us.

• Queens politicians and office holders: Friends, acquaintances and others — we try to help them keep their eyes where they belong.

• Richie Gelman: He was our Trib banker for the first 20 years and our idea of what a community banker should look like.

• Chick Banschick: There are lots of images of the House of Jacks — they advertised in the first issue, many times since and maybe they’ll be back again.

• Jonathan Silver: A nice guy, good lawyer and longest continuous running Trib advertiser. I signed him up some 20 years ago and he hasn’t missed an issue since. Now this guy understands response and advertising.

• The advertisers: We believe we give them what they need, effective exposure in this well-respected, well-read community newspaper — the largest in this wonderful borough.

• The community crazies: My affectionate name for those vocal civic activists who float in and out of our office and the fabric of Queens life, prompting the rest of us to focus on the problems.

• The thousands of civic leaders and activists: From PTA’s and Community Boards, from charity boards and museum boards, from picket lines and meeting–goers, the people of Queens will be heard.

• Lil (my wife), Lee & Allison (our kids) they have been there for me through the best part of it all.