NEW YORK CITY—Robert Douglass, the Alliance for Downtown New York's founding chairman, has died at the age of 85. In addition to his time at the organization's helm from 1995-2015, Douglass also was a lifetime director and former chair of the Downtown Lower Manhattan Association. Through every role he held, the Alliance states, Douglass was a staunch advocate of Lower Manhattan businesses and residents.
In his work with the D-LMA and as counsel and secretary to NY Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Douglass played a formative role in shaping downtown New York. His fingerprints were on everything from Battery Park City to the original World Trade Center.
For decades, the Alliance notes, Douglass worked to make Lower Manhattan an appealing global address for businesses, residents and visitors. As an advocate for the conversion of Downtown's vacant office space to residential properties and the establishment of a business improvement district, he helped to reshape the neighborhood. Following the devastating attacks on 9/11, he became a leading voice on the efforts to rally and rebuild Lower Manhattan.
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
