My New York A Life in the City Paperback - 2013

William J. Dean was born, raised, educated (college excepted), and continues to work and live in New York City. As a lawyer, he has been deeply involved in the life of the city, serving as executive director of Volunteers of Legal Service, an organization providing pro bono civil legal services to benefit poor people in New York City. As a volunteer, he has served as chairman of the Correctional Association of New York, a civic organization with statutory authority to visit and report on conditions in New York State prisons; as chairman of The New York Society Library, the oldest library in the city, founded in 1754; as the Wednesday night driver for the Coalition for the Homeless food van for thirteen years; and as a legal adviser to the Greenmarkets in New York City. For two decades, he conducted a forum series at the New School's Center for New York City Affairs, "New York: Problem City in Search of Solutions." Hundreds of his personal essays on a wide range of subjects have been published. In 2011 he was the recipient of the Brooke Russell Astor Award presented by The New York Public Library, an award honoring a person "who is relentless in his or her dedication to the City and who has contributed substantially to its enrichment."