Martin Abzug, Husband of Ex-Congresswoman, Dies

Martin Abzug, the son of an immigrant garment cutter who became a successful Wall Street broker and then wrote two novels, one of them depicting his experiences as a poor youth in New York City, died Friday of a heart attack.

Abzug, the husband of former U.S. Rep. Bella Abzug, was 69 and was stricken at his Greenwich Village apartment in lower Manhattan.

Ruth Price, a spokeswoman for Bella Abzug’s current congressional campaign, said she and other staffers were told of Abzug’s death at a 9:30 a.m. meeting at her law office in White Plains, north of New York City.

In a 1971 interview with the Washington Post, Abzug reflected on what it was like to live with a flamboyant feminist addicted to colorful hats and a matching vocabulary.

“She’s got a lot of guts, that woman, more guts than the whole damned Army,” he recalled of her 1950 trip to Mississippi where his wife, an attorney and seven months pregnant, represented a black man convicted of raping a white woman. She so feared for her safety that she slept sitting up in a bus station.

Biggest Fight

And although they “disagreed on almost everything” political, their biggest fight was over her decision to run for Congress in 1970.

“I thought she didn’t have a chance.”

She became the first Jewish woman ever sent to Capitol Hill.

Abzug said that although he was sympathetic to the feminist movement he found some of its champions--particularly Kate Millett and Betty Friedan--not to his taste. He also acknowledged that despite his initial fears of being overwhelmed he had learned over their 40-year marriage to listen to his wife’s advice. “When I haven’t . . . I’ve suffered, including financially in the stock market.”

He attributed his reticence to live in her shadow to his own stubbornness. “I didn’t want to be dominated.”

Defended Her Femininity

And he defended his wife as “feminine” despite her propensity for language heard more on the street than in the hallowed halls of Congress. “The best I can describe is she’s hard on the outside and soft on the inside.”

In 1947 Abzug wrote “Seventh Avenue Story,” about his youth in the garment district and his own experiences as a cutter and salesman. In 1950 he published a war novel, “Spearhead.”

He had intended to be a writer and editor but became attracted to the stock market after editing an economist’s newsletter.

Bella Abzug has been attempting to re-enter politics as a Democratic candidate in the 20th Congressional District in Westchester County. She represented Manhattan during her six years in Congress before being defeated in races for the U.S. Senate and mayor of New York.

The couple have two daughters--Eve, a sculptor, and Liz, a lawyer.