Manfred Ohrenstein

Manfred Ohrenstein (born August 5, 1925) is an American lawyer and politician.

Counsel to the New York law firm of Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, he is also a former member of the New York State Senate.

The son of a furniture merchant, Manfred Ohrenstein was born on August 5, 1925 in Mannheim, Germany.

To assist in achieving this objective and to elect a liberal to the New York State Senate, Ohrenstein became a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the 25th district of the New York State Senate against the incumbent State Senator John H. Farrell, who was supported by DeSapio.

Ohrenstein defeated Senator John H. Farrell in the Democratic primary.

Ohrenstein then won the general election with about 57 percent of the vote.

In 1938, Ohrenstein and his family, who were Jewish, fled Nazi Germany.

Ohrenstein and his family settled in Brownsville, Brooklyn.

Ohrenstein graduated from Brooklyn College in 1948 with a B.A degree, cum laude. He thereafter attended Columbia Law School from 1948 to 1951, where he was designated as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and graduated with the degree of Juris Doctor.

From 1952 to 1954, Ohrenstein served in the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant, Judge Advocate General Corps.

After leaving active duty he continued to serve in the military as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1954-1960.

On leaving active duty he was appointed as an assistant district attorney by the Manhattan District Attorney Frank Hogan and served from 1954 to 1958.

He left the New York District Attorney's office in 1958 to resume the practice of law in New York City and in 1983 helped form the law firm of Ohrenstein & Brown, LLP.

In addition to New York State, he is admitted to practice before the Court of Military Appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

He also became active in New York politics and in 1960 was elected to the New York State Senate representing the West Side of Manhattan.

In 1960, Ohrenstein emerged as one of the major leaders of the New York City Democratic reform movement.

He joined forces with Eleanor Roosevelt and former governor and U.S. Senator Herbert H. Lehman to organize the Committee for Democratic Voters.

The New York Post called Manfred Ohrenstein a "standout example of the new young leadership that is spearheading the drive to reform the Democratic Party."

The principal objective of this organization was to oust the then-leader of the New York County Democratic organization, Carmine DeSapio, otherwise known as Tammany Hall, and elect a Democratic reform leader as county leader.

A Democrat, he represented Manhattan from 1961 until 1994.

In a 1965 editorial, The New York Times said "Senator Manfred Ohrenstein is an outstanding Reform legislator who puts principle first."

Ohrenstein briefly represented the 29th District after a special election in 1965 (when State Senate and Assembly district lines were reapportioned), but the following year was elected to represent the 25th district again.

After district boundaries were redrawn after the 1970 census, Ohrenstein began representing the 27th district, which he held until his retirement.

Several of the new Democratic Members of the New York Senate had prevailed as challengers to the incumbents in the Primary Election of 1974 and voted for Senator Ohrenstein despite the opposition of the then state leadership of the Democratic Party.

Ohrenstein was a major advocate of legislation to abolish the death penalty in New York.

From 1975 until 1994, he served as the New York State Senate minority leader.

He is married to Dr. Marilyn Bacher and has two children, Nancy and David and four grandchildren.

In 1975 he became the Democratic leader of the New York State Senate.

In 1975, Ohrenstein was elected Senate minority leader by his Democratic colleagues.

He held the position until his retirement.

This was a major victory for the New York City Democratic Reform Movement.

He was opposed in this election by the Democratic Governor Hugh Carey and by the Chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, Patrick J. Cunningham.

In 1980 he also served as chairman of the New York Delegation to the Democratic National Convention which nominated Jimmy Carter for president.

He left the New York Senate at the end of 1994 to resume the practice of law.

Thereafter he was appointed by Mayor Rudy Giuliani as a member of the Mayor's Task Force on the City University of New York and subsequently to the Mayoral Task Force on the New York City Board of Elections.

He is the vice chairman of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, and vice president of the New York Insurance Federation.

Ohrenstein is a former member of the board of the New York City chapter of the American Jewish Committee and the advisory board of the Baruch School of Public Affairs.

He easily won reelection (often by lopsided margins) until he retired in 1994.

He sat in the 173rd, 174th, 175th, 176th, 177th, 178th, 179th, 180th, 181st, 182nd, 183rd, 184th, 185th, 186th, 187th, 188th, 189th and state legislatures.

In the senate, Ohrenstein compiled a liberal voting record, supporting anti-discrimination measures for gays and lesbians and strict rent control laws.