Louis J. Lefkowitz


Louis J. Lefkowitz was an American lawyer and politician. He served as the Attorney General of New York State for 22 years. He was a Republican.

Personal life

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

Political career

Lefkowitz was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1928, 1929 and 1930. In 1935, he became a municipal judge.
In 1957, Lefkowitz was elected by the New York State Legislature as New York Attorney General, to succeed Jacob K. Javits, who resigned after being elected 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.