Louis J. Lefkowitz

The Louis J. Lefkowitz State Office Building

Louis J. Lefkowitz (July 3, 1904 – June 20, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician. He served as the Attorney General of New York State for 22 years.

Personal life

Lefkowitz was born to a Jewish family in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Samuel Lefkowitz and Mollie (Isaacs) Lefkowitz, and brother of Leo Lefkowitz and Helen (Lefkowitz) Schlesinger. On June 14, 1931, he married Helen Schwimmer (1908–1986). They had a son, Stephen Lefkowitz, and a daughter, Joan Lefkowitz Feinbloom.

Political career

Lefkowitz was a member of the New York State Assembly (New York Co., 6th D.) in 1928, 1929 and 1930.

In 1935, he became a municipal judge. In 1957, he was elected by the New York State Legislature as New York Attorney General, to succeed Jacob K. Javits who resigned after his election to the U.S. Senate. Lefkowitz was re-elected in 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970 and 1974, holding the office for 22 years, the longest tenure since the office was established in 1777.

In 1961, he was the Republican candidate for Mayor of New York City, but lost to Democrat Robert F. Wagner, Jr.

Lefkowitz was a delegate to the 1944, 1948, 1960, and 1964 Republican National Conventions, and an alternate delegate to the 1956 Republican National Convention. He was a moderate or even liberal Republican and part of the Thomas E. Dewey and Nelson A. Rockefeller faction of the New York Republican Party.

Lefkowitz died from Parkinson's disease at his home in Manhattan.

The Louis J. Lefkowitz State Office Building at 80 Centre Street in the Civic Center district of Manhattan was named for him.^[1]

References

Notes

External links

• "Louis J. Lefkowitz, 22-Year Attorney General, Dies at 91" (obituary), The New York Times, June 21, 1996
• "MRS. LOUIS J. LEFKOWITZ" (Helen Lefkowitz obituary), The New York Times, March 19, 1986

Republican Party nominees for Mayor of the City of New York since the 1898 Consolidation
Benjamin F. Tracy Seth Low William Mills Ivins, Sr. Otto Bannard John Purroy Mitchel William M. Bennett Henry H. Curran Frank D. Waterman Fiorello H. La Guardia Lewis H. Pounds Fiorello H. La Guardia Jonah J. Goldstein Newbold Morris Edward F. Corsi Robert Christenberry Louis Lefkowitz John Lindsay John Marchi Roy M. Goodman Ed Koch Diane McGrath Rudy Giuliani Michael Bloomberg Joe Lhota