Obituary of Eleanor Billmyer

March 26, 2016 Eleanor Billmyer, 97, former newspaper reporter, editor, state public relations officer and Albany County legislator, died on March 26, 2016. She lived in Albany for more than 50 years before moving to Syracuse two years ago. She was born Nov. 1, 2018 in Dayton, Ohio, daughter of Mildred and George Stibitz. She graduated in 1940 from Heidelberg College. During World War II she worked on the Manhattan (atom bomb) Project in Dayton. She then worked in a Quaker Friends Service Committee unit as an attendant at Philadelphia State Hospital, where she met her future husband, David Billmyer. She was a reporter with the New Brunswick (N.J.) Home News, the American Federation of Labor’s Federation News in Chicago and The (Syracuse) Post- Standard. She was an assistant public information director at Cornell University. Moving to Albany with her husband in 1963, she became a public information officer and editor with the New York state (successively) Health Department, Planning Coordination Office, Labor Department, Board of Social Welfare and Assembly, retiring in 1979. She became active in the Albany Democratic Party in 1978, serving as a committeewoman for more than 25 years. She was elected county legislator three times starting in 1980, serving 12 years. She chaired the legislature’s health committee and the Albany County Community Services Board, which supervises mental health, retardation and substance abuse programs. She continued on that board until 2003 and was on the Alternatives to Incarceration Commission and the PINS Diversion Board. Early in the AIDS epidemic, she co-founded an HIV Task Force, through the County Health Department, to coordinate programs and share information. She won election in 2002 as a trustee of the Albany Public Library in a spring election that gave the library a new charter and separate property tax. With Richard Patrick, then Albany deputy parks commissioner, she co-founded the Friends of Washington Park, which morphed into the current Washington Park Conservancy. She and her husband were active in an independent neighborhood group that opposed a massive highway project that was part of the Empire State Plaza project. It would have destroyed blocks of houses and much of Washington Park. Her work for the Center Square Association included newsletter writing and for some 10 years, with her family, hosting the group’s annual holiday party. Other volunteer positions included various offices in the City Club of Albany, various positions with Friends of Albany Public Library, president of Albany Soroptimists. She also wrote for the South End Scene monthly newspaper. Surviving are a son and daughter-in-law, Steven and Mariann Billmyer, of Fayetteville; their children, Nicholas and Emma; and nieces and nephews. Her husband and three siblings have died: husband, David, in 1996; brother, George Stibitz, 1994, sister, Mildred Stibitz, 1999; and brother, Earle Stibitiz, 2003. She has donated her body to Upstate Medical University. A memorial gathering will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. April 23 at the University Club of Albany, 141 Washington Ave. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Homeless Action Committee, 393 N. Pearl St., Albany, NY 12207 or Friends of Dorothy, Catholic Workers, 212 Wayne St., Syracuse, NY 13203.