Iris Weinshall

Iris Weinshall is the longtime wife of New York senior senator, Chuck Schumer –who was elected Senate minority leader in 2016.

Iris’s husband has been a champion of gun control, the financial sector and Israel. He set a state record when he won reelection in 2004 with 71% of the vote. He entered politics after graduating from Harvard Law School.

After serving in the New York State Assembly, Schumer won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and eventually the Senate on a liberal Democratic ticket. His wife, Iris Weinshall has been by his side for many years.

#1 Like her husband, she is a big shot

Iris Weinshall currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer of The New York Public Library. She oversees a $324 million operating budget and $500 million in capital projects across the New York Public Library system’s 92 locations.

#2 Iris has an impressive resume

She previously served as the commissioner of the city’s Department of Transportation and as a vice chancellor of the City University of New York.

#3 She is an alumna of Brooklyn College

Iris Weinshall graduated cum laude from Brooklyn College, and earned her Master’s Degree in Public Administration from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. In 2000, she was named Alumna of the Year by the Brooklyn College Alumni Association, the group’s highest honor, in recognition of her commitment to the betterment of the community through her many professional and civic achievements.

#4 She was 21 when she met her then future husband

They both attended a Mid-Bay Independent Democrats meeting in Midwood, Brooklyn. She was 21, working on a local election and had gone to the event to drum up an endorsement. He was 24 and already a state assemblyman.

#5 She makes marriage work

Charles Schumer and Iris Weinshall have a rule that they talk on the phone in the morning and evening the four days a week that he spends in Washington—the senator calls her on the way to the gym in the morning, and the library executive calls him on the way home from work at night.

#6 She is a mom of two

Iris and her husband are the proud parents of two adult daughters, Jessica and Alison. Daughter Jessica has a law degree from Yale and is married to Michael Shapiro.

#7 One of her daughters is gay

In June it was revealed Alison Schumer who works at Facebook, is engaged to be married to Elizabeth Weiland