Benjamin Shalleck Is Dead at 95; A Long-Serving Municipal Judge
Benjamin Shalleck, whose 38 years on the bench made him one of New York City's longest-serving judges, died Wednesday at the Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He was 95 years old and lived in West Palm Beach, Fla.
He died after suffering a stroke, his family said.
Mayor James J. Walker appointed Mr. Shalleck to the municipal court bench in 1929. He was then 32 years old, making him the city's youngest judge, his family said. When he stepped down in 1967 at the mandatory retirement age of 70, he was the state's longest-serving judge, his family said.
His political initiation was even more precocious. At the age of 12 he began stuffing and licking envelopes at Tammany clubhouses, earning 50 cents a night. By the age of 16, though too young to vote, he graduated to become a district captain and was soon in demand for rolling up big Democratic turnouts at the polls.
He attended New York Law School but stopped short of final exams to enlist in the Navy in World War I. On his return, he worked as law clerk, was admitted to the bar in 1923 and began working with his brother, Joseph, a lawyer.
Judge Shalleck's clubhouse ties proved a mixed blessing to his career. He had apprenticed in the party under the Tammany chief, James Hines, who was later convicted on charges of protecting the mob, with Joseph Shalleck serving as a defense lawyer. Although there were no charges against the judge, some party leaders considered dumping him. But he survived and was renominated and re-elected in 1939.
A decade later Tammany Hall named Judge Shalleck as its candidate for a Congressional vacancy in Manhattan, spurning the candidacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., who then ran on the Liberal Party line. In the election he swamped Judge Shalleck, 41,000 votes to 24,000.
Among his noted court cases, Mr. Shalleck in 1956 upheld the constitutionality of the state rent control law for office buildings. In 1935, he upheld a jury award of $450 against the city to reimburse a liquor store owner for merchandise lost in rioting in Harlem -- a precedent for $1 million in similar claims based on a law holding the city responsible for keeping the peace.
Mr. Shalleck was a major fund raiser for charities, attending as many as five charity dinners in a single night. For many years he led efforts for the Young Men's Philanthropic League and Camp Sussex for poor children in Sussex, N.J. He also raised money for the elderly, the disabled, heart research, veterans, the Red Cross, United Jewish Appeal, Israel and Catholic Charities.
In 1933 he married the stage and screen actress Lillian Roth. He met her while hearing a case involving a disputed garage bill, in which he ruled against her. She obtained a divorce in California in 1939, claiming he had objected to her continuing her career.
He is survived by his second wife, the former Candace Hurst; a son, Joseph of Mill Valley, Calif.; a daughter, Ann Shalleck of Takoma Park, Md., and three grandchildren.
New York Times 8 Feb 1992
Benjamin Shalleck, whose 38 years on the bench made him one of New York City's longest-serving judges, died Wednesday at the Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He was 95 years old and lived in West Palm Beach, Fla.
He died after suffering a stroke, his family said.
Mayor James J. Walker appointed Mr. Shalleck to the municipal court bench in 1929. He was then 32 years old, making him the city's youngest judge, his family said. When he stepped down in 1967 at the mandatory retirement age of 70, he was the state's longest-serving judge, his family said.
His political initiation was even more precocious. At the age of 12 he began stuffing and licking envelopes at Tammany clubhouses, earning 50 cents a night. By the age of 16, though too young to vote, he graduated to become a district captain and was soon in demand for rolling up big Democratic turnouts at the polls.
He attended New York Law School but stopped short of final exams to enlist in the Navy in World War I. On his return, he worked as law clerk, was admitted to the bar in 1923 and began working with his brother, Joseph, a lawyer.
Judge Shalleck's clubhouse ties proved a mixed blessing to his career. He had apprenticed in the party under the Tammany chief, James Hines, who was later convicted on charges of protecting the mob, with Joseph Shalleck serving as a defense lawyer. Although there were no charges against the judge, some party leaders considered dumping him. But he survived and was renominated and re-elected in 1939.
A decade later Tammany Hall named Judge Shalleck as its candidate for a Congressional vacancy in Manhattan, spurning the candidacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., who then ran on the Liberal Party line. In the election he swamped Judge Shalleck, 41,000 votes to 24,000.
Among his noted court cases, Mr. Shalleck in 1956 upheld the constitutionality of the state rent control law for office buildings. In 1935, he upheld a jury award of $450 against the city to reimburse a liquor store owner for merchandise lost in rioting in Harlem -- a precedent for $1 million in similar claims based on a law holding the city responsible for keeping the peace.
Mr. Shalleck was a major fund raiser for charities, attending as many as five charity dinners in a single night. For many years he led efforts for the Young Men's Philanthropic League and Camp Sussex for poor children in Sussex, N.J. He also raised money for the elderly, the disabled, heart research, veterans, the Red Cross, United Jewish Appeal, Israel and Catholic Charities.
In 1933 he married the stage and screen actress Lillian Roth. He met her while hearing a case involving a disputed garage bill, in which he ruled against her. She obtained a divorce in California in 1939, claiming he had objected to her continuing her career.
He is survived by his second wife, the former Candace Hurst; a son, Joseph of Mill Valley, Calif.; a daughter, Ann Shalleck of Takoma Park, Md., and three grandchildren.
New York Times 8 Feb 1992
Benjamin Shalleck Is Dead at 95; A Long-Serving Municipal Judge
Benjamin Shalleck, whose 38 years on the bench made him one of New York City's longest-serving judges, died Wednesday at the Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He was 95 years old and lived in West Palm Beach, Fla.
He died after suffering a stroke, his family said.
Mayor James J. Walker appointed Mr. Shalleck to the municipal court bench in 1929. He was then 32 years old, making him the city's youngest judge, his family said. When he stepped down in 1967 at the mandatory retirement age of 70, he was the state's longest-serving judge, his family said.
His political initiation was even more precocious. At the age of 12 he began stuffing and licking envelopes at Tammany clubhouses, earning 50 cents a night. By the age of 16, though too young to vote, he graduated to become a district captain and was soon in demand for rolling up big Democratic turnouts at the polls.
He attended New York Law School but stopped short of final exams to enlist in the Navy in World War I. On his return, he worked as law clerk, was admitted to the bar in 1923 and began working with his brother, Joseph, a lawyer.
Judge Shalleck's clubhouse ties proved a mixed blessing to his career. He had apprenticed in the party under the Tammany chief, James Hines, who was later convicted on charges of protecting the mob, with Joseph Shalleck serving as a defense lawyer. Although there were no charges against the judge, some party leaders considered dumping him. But he survived and was renominated and re-elected in 1939.
A decade later Tammany Hall named Judge Shalleck as its candidate for a Congressional vacancy in Manhattan, spurning the candidacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., who then ran on the Liberal Party line. In the election he swamped Judge Shalleck, 41,000 votes to 24,000.
Among his noted court cases, Mr. Shalleck in 1956 upheld the constitutionality of the state rent control law for office buildings. In 1935, he upheld a jury award of $450 against the city to reimburse a liquor store owner for merchandise lost in rioting in Harlem -- a precedent for $1 million in similar claims based on a law holding the city responsible for keeping the peace.
Mr. Shalleck was a major fund raiser for charities, attending as many as five charity dinners in a single night. For many years he led efforts for the Young Men's Philanthropic League and Camp Sussex for poor children in Sussex, N.J. He also raised money for the elderly, the disabled, heart research, veterans, the Red Cross, United Jewish Appeal, Israel and Catholic Charities.
In 1933 he married the stage and screen actress Lillian Roth. He met her while hearing a case involving a disputed garage bill, in which he ruled against her. She obtained a divorce in California in 1939, claiming he had objected to her continuing her career.
He is survived by his second wife, the former Candace Hurst; a son, Joseph of Mill Valley, Calif.; a daughter, Ann Shalleck of Takoma Park, Md., and three grandchildren.
New York Times 8 Feb 1992
Benjamin Shalleck, whose 38 years on the bench made him one of New York City's longest-serving judges, died Wednesday at the Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He was 95 years old and lived in West Palm Beach, Fla.
He died after suffering a stroke, his family said.
Mayor James J. Walker appointed Mr. Shalleck to the municipal court bench in 1929. He was then 32 years old, making him the city's youngest judge, his family said. When he stepped down in 1967 at the mandatory retirement age of 70, he was the state's longest-serving judge, his family said.
His political initiation was even more precocious. At the age of 12 he began stuffing and licking envelopes at Tammany clubhouses, earning 50 cents a night. By the age of 16, though too young to vote, he graduated to become a district captain and was soon in demand for rolling up big Democratic turnouts at the polls.
He attended New York Law School but stopped short of final exams to enlist in the Navy in World War I. On his return, he worked as law clerk, was admitted to the bar in 1923 and began working with his brother, Joseph, a lawyer.
Judge Shalleck's clubhouse ties proved a mixed blessing to his career. He had apprenticed in the party under the Tammany chief, James Hines, who was later convicted on charges of protecting the mob, with Joseph Shalleck serving as a defense lawyer. Although there were no charges against the judge, some party leaders considered dumping him. But he survived and was renominated and re-elected in 1939.
A decade later Tammany Hall named Judge Shalleck as its candidate for a Congressional vacancy in Manhattan, spurning the candidacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., who then ran on the Liberal Party line. In the election he swamped Judge Shalleck, 41,000 votes to 24,000.
Among his noted court cases, Mr. Shalleck in 1956 upheld the constitutionality of the state rent control law for office buildings. In 1935, he upheld a jury award of $450 against the city to reimburse a liquor store owner for merchandise lost in rioting in Harlem -- a precedent for $1 million in similar claims based on a law holding the city responsible for keeping the peace.
Mr. Shalleck was a major fund raiser for charities, attending as many as five charity dinners in a single night. For many years he led efforts for the Young Men's Philanthropic League and Camp Sussex for poor children in Sussex, N.J. He also raised money for the elderly, the disabled, heart research, veterans, the Red Cross, United Jewish Appeal, Israel and Catholic Charities.
In 1933 he married the stage and screen actress Lillian Roth. He met her while hearing a case involving a disputed garage bill, in which he ruled against her. She obtained a divorce in California in 1939, claiming he had objected to her continuing her career.
He is survived by his second wife, the former Candace Hurst; a son, Joseph of Mill Valley, Calif.; a daughter, Ann Shalleck of Takoma Park, Md., and three grandchildren.
New York Times 8 Feb 1992
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
