Bernard Haber

Bernard Haber (1920 – February 26, 1959) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.

Life

Haber was born in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York in 1920. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School, Brooklyn College and Brooklyn Law School. During World War II he served in the U.S. Air Force, rising to the rank of first lieutenant. He practiced law in New York City. He married Mildred Levine, and they had two daughters, Francine and Cheryl.^[1][2]

He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Kings Co., 16th D.) from 1956 until his death in 1959, sitting in the 170th, 171st and 172nd New York State Legislatures, and serving on the Canals and Waterways, Public Institutions, Villages, and Printing and Engrossed Bills Committees.^[1]

On February 23, 1959, Haber, State Senator Frank J. Pino, Assemblyman Joseph Kottler and Kottler's 14-year-old son Harry were driving in a snowstorm on the New York State Thruway, on the way to Albany, when their car collided near Tuxedo Park with another car and then crashed into a rock ledge. Pino broke a leg, and the Kottlers suffered only minor injuries. Haber suffered a skull fracture and brain injuries, was brought to Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern,^[3] and died there three days later.^[1][4]

Haber Houses, an NYCHA senior citizen development in Coney Island, Brooklyn was named in his honor.^[5]

Sources

1. "Bernard Haber Dies of Injuries - Brooklyn Democrat Served in Assembly From 1955 - Hurt in Car Accident". New York Times. February 27, 1959. p. 25. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
2. New York Red Book 1958–1959, p. 192.
3. Assemblyman Is Hurt on Thruway, Is Critical Today in The Kingston Daily Freeman, of Kingston, on February 24, 1959.
4. Brooklyn Barrister 1959, vol. 11, p. 239.
5. "Haber, Bernard Houses"at NYCHA Archived October 22, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.