Gerald Aksen (1930–2024)
A leader in international arbitration, Gerald Aksen ’58 was general counsel and assistant to the president of the American Arbitration Association. A member of an advisory committee for the US State Department, he later joined Reid & Priest. Aksen taught international arbitration at NYU Law as an adjunct professor.
Richard DeScherer (1944–2024)
Co-chair of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Richard DeSherer LLM ’70 was longtime counsel to Bloomberg LP and its founder, Michael Bloomberg. In 2012, he became the company’s chief legal officer and later a director of Bloomberg Inc. DeSherer was also co-founder and co-chair of the Lupus Research Alliance.
Yoram Dinstein (1936–2024)
Called “the founding father of international law studies” in Israel, Yoram Dinstein LLM ’61 taught international law at Hebrew University; served as dean of the Faculty of Law, rector, and president of Tel Aviv University; and was a visiting professor at NYU Law.
Jonathan Dolgen (1945–2023)
Jonathan Dolgen ’69 joined Columbia Pictures as assistant general counsel and ultimately became president of Columbia Pictures’ film unit, the head of television at 20th Century Fox, and the chair of Viacom Entertainment Group. Among the movies released on his watch were Best Picture Oscar winners such as Titanic and Forrest Gump.
Alan Eisenberg (1935–2023)
As executive director of the Actors’ Equity Association, Alan Eisenberg ’59 helped form Equity Fights AIDS and helped secure domestic partnership benefits for actors. Co-founder of Spelman, Eisenberg, Paul & Wagner, he was longtime counsel to many trade unions.
Jerome Feit (1930–2024)
Jerome Feit ’54 worked in the US Department of Justice as assistant to the solicitor general and deputy chief of the Appellate Section of the Criminal Division, arguing before the US Supreme Court 13 times. He ultimately served as solicitor of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Anthony Fiorella Jr. (1937–2024)
Anthony Fiorella Jr. LLM ’78 worked as a law secretary to Civil Court judges, becoming chief law assistant. In 1988 he was appointed as a judge of the Housing Part of the Civil Court of the City of New York. Fiorella also taught landlord-tenant law at Marymount Manhattan College.
Burton Freeman (1926–2023)
Burton Freeman ’68 was a partner at Moses & Singer and worked as in-house counsel at Bankers Trust and Deutsche Bank. Through the Freeman-Harrison Family Foundation, he started the My Own Book program, which takes public school students on field trips to bookstores.
Marvin Ginsky (1930–2023)
A member of NYU Law Review, Marvin Ginsky ’55 became an attorney for Paramount Pictures and then general counsel and executive vice president of Champion International. He later worked as an arbitrator in New York and Connecticut.
Laurence Greenwald (1941–2024)
Laurence Greenwald ’65 spent much of his long career in commercial litigation at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, specializing in antitrust, motion picture law, and First Amendment law. He served as chair of the UJA Federation Lawyers Division.
James Holloman Jr. (1946–2024)
James Holloman Jr. LLM ’73 chaired the tax department at Oklahoma City’s Crowe & Dunlevy. Holloman was also president of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation and board president of the Board of Education of Deer Creek Public Schools.
Roberta Karmel (1937–2024)
Roberta Karmel ’62 was the first woman commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, one of the first woman partners at Rogers & Wells, and the first woman appointed to the board of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Karmel later became a public director of the New York Stock Exchange and a professor at Brooklyn Law School.
Sidney Kess (1926–2023)
Sidney Kess LLM ’55, who was national director of tax at KPMG Main Hurdman and a tax partner at KPMG Peat Marwick, wrote, lectured, and edited newsletters on tax subjects for a broad audience. The American Institute of CPAs awarded Kess its Gold Medal Award, the highest award in the accounting profession.
Alfred Kingsley (1942–2024)
Alfred Kingsley ’66, LLM ’67 worked closely with activist investor Carl Icahn as senior vice president of Icahn and Company, helping devise the investment strategy known as convertible arbitrage. General partner of Greenway Partners and president of Greenbelt Corp., Kingsley chaired the board of Lineage Cell Therapeutics and co-founded precision diagnostic company Oncocyte.
Amy Schimmel Kramer (1957–2023)
After working as an associate at Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon, focusing on municipal bond matters, Amy Schimmel Kramer ’82 served as an assistant general counsel at insurance company Ambac Indemnity. She later worked at the holding company MBIA before retiring to raise her family.
Joseph Lucca (1923–2024)
Joseph Lucca ’60 attended NYU Law while working as a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and served as vice president of corporate security for Bristol Myers Squibb for 27 years. In 1988 he was appointed to the Overseas Security Advisory Council and a State Department Accountability Review Board examining an attack on the US embassy in Honduras.
Richard Orin (1927–2023)
Richard Orin ’55, LLM ’57 helped overturn a ban on the dual practice of law and accounting and co-founded the American Association of Attorney-CPAs. His clients included comedian Mel Brooks and travel writer Arthur Frommer. A veteran of the US Navy and the US Army, he also defended objectors to the draft pro bono before the US Selective Service.
Bertram Perkel (1929–2024)
Bertram Perkel ’60 represented major labor unions and was special counsel to two New York police commissioners during a 1970s corruption crackdown. Earlier, Perkel did civil rights–related work in Mississippi through the Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee.
Margot Polivy (1938–2023)
Margot Polivy ’64 was a physical education teacher before attending NYU Law. As counsel to the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, Polivy played a key role in ensuring that regulations for Title IX opened opportunities and resources for women in collegiate sports.
Jill Cranna Preotle (1949–2023)
Jill Cranna Preotle ’77 started a real estate and estate planning practice, Preotle & Smith, and was an investor, advisor, and board member in many start-ups, focusing on women entrepreneurs. Active in pro bono work, Preotle was a director at the Center for Women & Enterprise.
Arnold Rich (1933–2023)
Entertainment litigator Arnold Rich ’59 was a partner at Hofer, Rich & Grubman before joining Polygram Corporation as general counsel in 1974. He later formed his own practice in White Plains, New York.
Herbert Rubin (1918–2023)
Co-founder of Herzfeld + Rubin, Herbert Rubin ’42 argued cases at both the trial and appellate levels, including the US Supreme Court, and served on the judicial screening committees of Senators Daniel Moynihan and Chuck Schumer. Rubin taught creditors’ rights and bankruptcy at NYU Law and, with his late wife, was a strong supporter of its global law programs.
Jerome Seidman (1932–2023)
Jerome Seidman ’59, LLM ’62 earned his JD and made NYU Law Review while working at accounting firm Apfel and Englander (now BDO USA). He continued at the firm for over 60 years and was active in community affairs in Scarsdale, New York.
Sana Flanders Shtasel (1951–2023)
At 27, Sana Flanders Shtasel ’76 successfully argued Davis v. Passman at the US Supreme Court, establishing that members of Congress can be sued for employment discrimination. Later, she was president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Maryland, executive director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace, and CEO of Shtasel Consulting.
Jerome Skolnick (1931–2024)
Jerome Skolnick, an authority in criminal justice, was an adjunct professor at the Law School and co-director of NYU Law’s Center for Research in Crime and Justice after he retired from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. His publications included the award-winning Justice Without Trial: Law Enforcement in Democratic Society.
Karen Tenenbaum (1959–2023)
Tax attorney Karen Tenenbaum LLM ’87 worked at accounting and law firms before launching Tenenbaum Law in 1996. She founded two organizations, Commerce Plaza and Money Masters, Inc., that promote financial literacy for young people.
Spiros Tsimbinos (1943–2024)
Criminal appellate specialist Spiros Tsimbinos ’68 worked in private practice and as counsel and chief of appeals in the Queens District Attorney’s Office. A frequent lecturer and writer on criminal and appellate practice, he served as president of the Queens County Bar Association.
Marsha Wolf Beidler (1948–2023)
Marsha Wolf Beidler LLM ’79 started her career at the Internal Revenue Service before attending NYU Law. She focused on estate planning and probate law at the firm that is now Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath. She frequently lectured on estate planning and served on the boards of several nonprofits.
Posted September 10, 2024