Meet Chuck Reichenthal, Artist & Public Servant

On a recent afternoon, Charles Reichenthal, better known as “Chuck,” pushed his chair out from his computer and walked towards the television that sits in the corner of his Coney Island office. A quiz show was on and the question was about poetry.

“e.e. cummings!,” he shouted at the contestant on the screen. “It’s e.e. cummings!”

Reichenthal’s knowledge of trivia, whether it’s books, music, theater, film or baseball, knows no bounds, say his friends.

“Now, if you ask me my telephone number,” Reichenthal said, “I couldn’t tell you.”

He has been the district manager of Brooklyn’s Community Board 13 for over a decade, but as much as he may enjoy his role in greasing the gears of local government, his heart of hearts is in the arts.

“Everything else is just to get by,” said Marty Markman, who has known Reichenthal since the 1970’s. “A life in the arts, that’s what he wanted more than anything else.”

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