History

Norman K. Winston


Winston Elementary is named for Norman K. Winston, the generous benefactor who donated the land on which the school is built. He saw a need for a community school in the Kelly area and took action.

Winston will always be remembered in the Edgewood community for his tireless energy and driving force. He will be remembered for his long history of service not just to the Edgewood community but also to the country he loved so much, the United States.

Winston had several noteworthy accomplishments during his lifetime. He served as the Mayor of New York's personal representative to the European International Trade Conference in 1947, the U.S. Special Delegate to the UNESCO Paris Conference in 1957, and the following year served as the Special Adviser for the U.S. Department of Commerce. Winston was on the Board of Trustees for the Carnegie Hall Foundation in 1959 and served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as a special adviser. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy appointed him to serve on the Board of Directors for the 1964 World's Fair in New York, and in 1964 President Lyndon Johnson named him Special Assignments Ambassador.

His awards include being selected the 1974 Man-of-the-Year by the Port Jefferson, NY, Port Authority; awarded the rank of Officer of the Order of Leopold II of Belgium; awarded the rank of Knight Officer in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic; and awarded The Great Cross for Merit by the Republic of Austria.

In 1969, Winston again showed his generosity by donating the Norman Winston House to the Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases in New York.

The man is remembered across the country, but his roots are in Edgewood.

Norman K. Winston