U.S. Administrative Law Judge Robert Lazarus, of Montauk, dies at 98

Attorney-turned-jurist Robert Lazarus, of Manhattan and Montauk, was a judge through and through. How much so? As his niece Harriet Lazarus recalls fondly, “We called him Uncle Robert, Uncle Bob and Uncle Judge.”

U.S. Administrative Law Judge Lazarus spent decades at the Social Security Administration’s Office of Hearings Operations, formerly the Office of Hearings and Appeals, in Brooklyn, including an appointment as chief judge. Both there and in his previous careers as a Brooklyn assistant district attorney and later a criminal defense attorney, “He dedicated his life to defending the downtrodden,” said Deborah Kassel, the daughter of his late longtime partner, Ellen Kesten.

Robert Lazarus, who lived with Kesten in her Montauk condominium as a second home for nearly two decades, died July 6 at NewYork-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan, at age 98, of an infection following a fall.

But until then, despite his advanced age, “Robert’s mind was sharp,” said Kassel, of Manhattan and Montauk, who cared for both Lazarus and Kesten for many years as they grew older. “He did New York Times crossword puzzles. He did have health issues, including a triple bypass 30 years ago, but his constitution was strong.” And he was, she said, “like a father to me. Anything I was going through, he was there for me.”

“He was a nice, humble person,” said Michael Carrington, the judge’s legal assistant from 1998 until Lazarus’ retirement around 2016. “And at the same time he was firm — he was a no-nonsense guy. Everybody in the office loved him.” In a typical gesture, said Carrington, of Brooklyn, “When he would come back from lunch and I was in the office working, he'd bring me back half of his sandwich.”

Yet some of his early life remained shrouded in mystery, even to his family, said Harriet Lazarus, of Brookline, Massachusetts. “He was a Depression kid, and he didn't talk about a lot of things, especially things that were hard. I don't think it was because he was being deliberately secretive. I think he just didn't talk about things.”

Robert Jay Lazarus was born Feb. 6, 1927, in Brooklyn, the second of two sons of Herman Lazarus and Anna Berlin Lazarus. His parents were the first-generation children of immigrant Hungarian Jews who Americanized an ancestral name rendered as Lazarovics and Lajzerovics in official records. Family lore had claimed they were related to the famed poet Emma Lazarus, but, confirmed Harriet Lazarus, “There's no link.”

After graduating from James Madison High School in Brooklyn, Robert Lazarus enlisted in the Navy in the waning days of World War II. His service was cut short by a broken leg suffered while playing the New York street game Johnny-on-a-Pony, his niece said. But, eligible for the GI Bill that helped veterans attend college, Lazarus completed a five-year law program at St. John’s University.

He joined the New York Bar in 1951. Three years later, after a stint as a special investigator in the organized-crime bureau of Brooklyn District Attorney Edward S. Silver, Lazarus was named an assistant district attorney.

Lazarus married speech therapist Nona Ann Goldstein on Aug. 26, 1956. They adopted son Zachary Lazarus, and later lost a child in infancy.

The couple separated when Zachary turned 18, and later divorced. Nona died in 1987, and Zachary in 1999.

As an assistant district attorney, Lazarus, through 1959 and 1960, helped prosecute Brooklyn racketeer Joe Gallo — later infamous as the mob's “Crazy Joe” Gallo — who was convicted of coercion and sentenced to three years in prison. Following this, Lazarus co-founded the law firm Daley and Lazarus and became a criminal defense attorney. He continued in that profession for 21 years before being appointed an administrative law judge in 1981. 

A tennis player into his 80s, Lazarus “went to all the Grand Slam tennis tournaments with the exception of the Australian Open,” said Harriet Lazarus. “So he went to the U.S. Open, Wimbledon and the French Open, I think more than once. And in fact, even when he went to the hospital for this last time, we were watching the French Open together.”

He met Ellen R. Kesten in 2005 and the two remained together until her death on May 13, at age 82. They shared, his family said, a passion for social justice.

In addition to Kassel and Harriet Lazarus, the judge was survived by a nephew, Arnold Lazarus, of Sayville; another de facto stepdaughter, Laura Ruderman, of New Jersey; a grandniece; and four de facto step-grandchildren.

He was buried July 11 at Fort Hill Cemetery in Montauk, following a graveside service. A memorial will be held later this year, his family said.