Elaine Schuster

Elaine Schuster is a philanthropist, former American diplomat, civic leader, and Democratic Party activist.

For the 64th UN session (2009-2010), President Barack Obama appointed Mrs. Schuster to serve as a Public Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. Schuster focuses her work for the U.N. in the area of human trafficking.

In 2004, she and her husband, Gerald, founded The Elaine and Gerald Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University.

Along with her husband, Mrs. Schuster founded a community-based network center, called PEACE (Partnerships in Education and Community Enrichment).

Schuster has also led the Schuster Family Foundation’s efforts to establish a Transplant Center as well as a Surgical Suite named for them at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Awards and honors

Schuster and her husband received the Heritage Society Award from the Brigham & Women’s Hospital. She has been honored by Franciscan Children’s Hospital. In 2011, Schuster was honored by the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston.

Schuster is active in Democratic politics on both state and national level. She has served as Finance Chair to Senator John Kerry, as National Advisory Board member and the New England Chair for Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Campaign and has been a past Chair of the Democratic National Committee’s Women’s Leadership Forum. The Massachusetts State Democratic Party has honored her for her work on behalf of Democratic values.

She is married to Gerald Schuster, the President of Continental Wingate Company Inc. The two reside in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, Osterville, Massachusetts and Palm Beach, Florida. Gerald Schuster has been described as a slumlord for the gross mismanagement of the Diego-Beekman housing projects in the South Bronx, New York, with over 1200 housing code violations in 2 years.