Rosina K. Abramson, an immigrant from Italy, moved to America with her parents, who were both Holocaust survivors, when she was three. After graduating Brooklyn Law School and working as a Legal Aid attorney, Abramson became president and chief operating officer of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation until 1991. Afterwards, she became executive director of the City Planning Department and counsel to the chairman. Abramson was later appointed by Gov. Mario M. Cuomo as the first president of the Queens West Development Corporation, part of the NY State Urban Development Corporation.