Recognized Champion for Downtown New York Liz Berger Dies at 53
Elizabeth Berger, who served as the president of the Alliance for Downtown New York since 2007, has died. Berger is widely credited and known with helping the area rebuild after the attacks of 9/11.
Berger died on Monday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 53.
“Liz will be missed terribly. The legacy she leaves behind includes all that she did for the most special part of the most special city in the world. We are deeply saddened by her passing,” 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels said.
Among the initiatives Berger spearheaded at the Downtown Alliance included the Fulton Street Transit Center, the reconstruction of the Borough of Manhattan Community College’s Fiterman Hall, and recent efforts to help business and residents recover from Superstorm Sandy.
Berger was a Yale graduate who worked for decades in government, community affairs and planning and served in the Ed Koch administration, according to a New York Daily News report.
By Anthony Guido, 9/11 Memorial Communications Manager.
Last week, when the 9/11 Memorial Museum project team temporarily removed the protective covering from the Last Column and returned the tribute messages to its surfaces, team member after team member walked into the museum’s Foundation Hall and said, "Wow, I haven't seen the Last Column like this since it was removed from the site of the former World Trade Center 11 years ago."
Manhattan native, Marina Isaac, is part of the 9/11 Memorial’s visitor services team. Isaac was just starting her second day of sophomore year of high school on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.