New York - On the Mayor's Calendar: Mother Turns 102

From his first day on the campaign trail through nine years at the helm, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has mentioned one person more than any other in the speeches he's delivered over the years: his mother.

Charlotte Bloomberg, the determined and unsentimental matriarch of the Bloomberg family, turned 102 on Sunday. Mrs. Bloomberg, who still lives in the home where the mayor grew up in Medford, Mass., traveled to New York this weekend to celebrate her birthday.

"She remembers electricity coming in—they had gas lamps before that," said Mr. Bloomberg at Abyssinian Baptist Church on Sunday. "She remembers the first telephone, the first car in the neighborhood."

Over the years, he has painted a picture of his mother as tough-minded, practical and matter-of-fact. When the mayor was accepted to Harvard Business School, for example, he called his mom to share the good news. "'Don't let it get to your head,'" the mayor recalled her saying in his autobiography. "That's how she reacts to everything."

In 2001, Mr. Bloomberg hoped to appeal to elderly New Yorkers by showcasing his mother in a TV ad and in campaign literature.

During his first campaign, Mrs. Bloomberg hit the campaign trail, telling anyone who asked at a senior center that her son would be a good mayor.

Charlotte Bloomberg, nee Rubens, grew up in New Jersey, where her parents ran a wholesale-grocery business. She graduated from college in the 1920s and later took a job in a dairy, where she met the mayor's father, William. The couple married and had two children: the future mayor and Marjorie Tiven, who works in the mayor's administration.

In a speech at Barnard College several years ago, the mayor described his mother's graduation from college as a "rare achievement for a young woman" at that time and he said she "never lost that pioneering spirit."

"At the midpoint of her life, her husband passed away suddenly. But she didn't let that defeat her," the mayor said.

June Klein, a friend of Mrs. Bloomberg's, said, "She's just very smart, kind, gracious—a wonderful person. She still reads the newspapers every day."

In journalist Joyce Purnick's biography of the mayor, Mrs. Bloomberg said she doubted her son could win the White House. "I don't think this country is ready for a Jewish president," she said.

On Sunday, Mr. Bloomberg said his mother's long-term memory is very good. Her short-term memory? Not so much.

"She sat next to me at Thanksgiving and asked me the same question three times. And when I said, 'Mother, that's the third time,' she said, 'Well, at my age I have a right to do that.'"

WSJ