Herbert Rubin

In Memoriam of Herbert Rubin, Founding Member

June 4, 1918 – October 30, 2023

It is with deep sadness that the firm announces the passing of one of its founding members, Herbert Rubin.  Herb passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on Monday, October 30, 2023 after a full and remarkable life.

Herb was a founder of Herzfeld + Rubin more than sixty years ago. During his long and active career as a lawyer in the federal and New York State courts, he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, U. S. Court of Appeals for the 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th and 11th circuits, the D.C. Circuit, and the U.S. Court of International Trade, as well as the New York State Court of Appeals, each of the NY State Appellate Divisions and trial courts throughout the State. The hundreds of appeals he argued in the various state and federal courts included the widest variety of issues in the areas of product liability, commercial, real estate, regulatory, estate law and international law.

An enthusiastic alumnus of NYU Law School, he was heavily involved in the affairs of that law school, where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review.  After service in World War II, as Senior Instructor of Military Law at Signal Corps Officer Candidate School, he became a member of the NYU Law School faculty, teaching creditors’ rights and bankruptcy among other courses. He also taught creditors rights and bankruptcy as a Professor of Law at Rutgers Law School. A Past President of the NYU Law Review Alumni Association, he with his wife, the late Justice Rose Luttan Rubin, endowed the professorship in International Law and were donors of the NYU Law School International Law Library, among other scholastic incentives for students of NYU Law School. He received from NYU Law School its Alumni Distinguished Service Award and it’s Judge Edward Weinfeld Medal. He also supported scholarships in CCNY and Hunter College, the undergraduate schools of which he and Judge Rubin were respectively graduates. Among other peers, awards have been the Defense Attorneys Association Medal and The Jewish Lawyers Guild Tzaddick Award.

Herb was a member of The New York Law Journal Board of Editors for over thirty years and was on the Emeritus Board. He was also a member of Senator Moynihan’s Judicial Screening Committee for over twenty years and served as a member of Senator Schumer’s Judicial Screening Committee. He served as a member of the New York State Banking Board, and of the Governor’s Judicial Nominating Committee. For over 25 years, he served as a member of the Committee on Judicial Selection, respectively, of Mayors Lindsay, Beame, Koch, Dinkins and Giuliani. He was also a member for 25 years of the statutory New York City Housing Court Advisory Council. Also, he was a member of the New York City Commission to Revise the City Charter in 1999 and 2000.

Herb was a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Judges, Past President of the Queens County Bar Association, a past member of the New York State Bar Association House of Delegates and chair of its Supreme Court Committee, among others, as well as a member of various committees of the New York City Bar Association and American Bar Association.

For more than 40 years, Herb was a Trustee of the Northwell Health Hospital Group and served as a member of its Board Overseers. He has been an honoree and a cabinet member of the Lawyers Division of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies – UJA, and Jewish Lawyers Guild, an honoree of the NYU Joint Disease Hospital, and other community groups, and is active in various other philanthropic organizations.

By any measure, Herb had a remarkable and distinguished career and will be dearly missed by everyone at Herzfeld + Rubin.