Marie M. Runyon

Marie M. Runyon (March 20, 1915 – October 7, 2018) was an American activist and former New York State Legislator from New York.

Early life Marie Runyon (born Marie Morgan) was born on March 20, 1915, in Brevard, North Carolina to a pharmacist father and college educated mother. Runyon’s older sister Louise attended Berea College where Marie soon followed. While attending Kentucky’s Berea College, Marie studied Psychology, served as Vice class president, played Varsity basketball, and sang in the school choir. Together they had one daughter, Louise, and Marie quit her job to be a full-time mother. 3 years later the pair divorced and Marie found herself homeless and a single mother. She and her daughter lived with various friends and relatives until she landed a job at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as a membership recruiter and an apartment at 130 Morningside Drive in West Harlem. The university decided Runyon’s block was the perfect new location for their School of Pharmacy and handed out eviction notices to residents overnight. Runyon became an instant community activist and joined other neighborhood leaders such as Reverend Eugene Callender in the distribution of a letter that enlightened Harlemites to the dangers of city redevelopment and how Columbia’s plans will affect them. and was defeated by Edward C. Sullivan.

Harlem Restoration Project Afterwards Runyon remained active in tenants' affairs, and was Executive Director of the Harlem Restoration Project Inc. Marie remained the head of the Harlem Restoration Project into the 1990s but she fought constantly with the members of the board who found her management style to be out of date and too authoritarian. Unable to keep up with building opportunities due to fiscal disorganization, the board ousted Runyon. She then took them to court and took back the organization - this went back and forth a few times- until she finally resigned late in her 80s.

Late life She was active in the Granny Peace Brigade. Runyon played cameo roles in the 2004 movie The Manchurian Candidate as the mother of Robert Arthur, and as a wedding guest in the 2008 movie Rachel Getting Married. On March 20, 2015, she celebrated her 100th birthday. In 2017, Runyon reported to the New York Post that at 102 she believes her meaningful work has kept her alive for so long and that she continues to enjoy a gin and tonic before bed every night. Marie Runyon dedicated much of her life to the fight for Morningside Drive, getting arrested over 40 times. In 2001, the F.B.I. had a 671 page file on Marie. Runyon’s home even reflected a lifetime of activism, her apartment’s entry way was filled with buttons and pins promoting the various movements and causes she supported. She died on October 7, 2018, at the age of 103 at her Manhattan apartment.