Samuel Rabin

Samuel Rabin (1905 – May 7, 1993) was an American lawyer and politician.

Life

He was born in 1905 in Manhattan, New York City. He graduated from Cornell University, and in 1928 from New York University School of Law. He was admitted to the bar, and practiced law in Jamaica, Queens. In 1938, he married Florence Mittlemann, and they had two children. He entered politics as a Republican.

He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Queens Co., 8th D.) from 1945 to 1954, sitting in the 165th, 166th, 167th, 168th and 169th New York State Legislatures.

In 1954, he was elected to the New York Supreme Court, and re-elected in 1968. From 1962 on, he sat on the Appellate Division (2nd Dept.), and Presiding Justice from 1971 on.

In January 1974, he was appointed by Governor Malcolm Wilson to the New York Court of Appeals, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Adrian P. Burke.^[1] In June 1974, he was designated by the Republican State Committee to run for one of the vacancies on the Court of Appeals but he declined to run, being already 69 years old, just one year short of the constitutional age limit.^[2] In 1975, he returned to the Appellate Division, and retired from the bench in 1981. Afterwards he resumed the practice of law.

He died on May 7, 1993, in Floral Park, Queens.^[3]

References

1. Stevens and Rabin Named To State's Highest Court in the New York Times on January 1, 1974 (subscription required)
2. Rabin Drops Out of Appeals Court Race in the New York Times on June 29, 1974 (subscription required)
3. Samuel Rabin, Long-Time Judge And Ex-Assemblyman, Dies at 87 in the New York Times on May 8, 1993

Sources

• The History of the New York Court of Appeals, 1932-2003 by Bernard S. Meyer, Burton C. Agata & Seth H. Agata (page 29)