Greenpoint-born U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Chester J. Straub dies at 87

August 2, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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BROOKLYN-BORN CHESTER J. STRAUB, 87, who was a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circut, died on July 13 in Bronxville, New York, according to an announcement from Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston and a New York Law Journal obituary. Judge Straub, who was born on May 12, 1937, grew up working at and living above his father’s store in Greenpoint. Straub attended St. Stanislaus Kostka School and the now-defunct Brooklyn Preparatory School before going on to earn his baccalaureate and law degrees, at St. Peter’s College and the University of Virginia School of Law, respectively. He was elected to both houses of New York’s legislature, first as an Assemblymember from 1967 until 1972 and then as a State Senator from 1973 until 1976. He also served as a mediator/neutral evaluator in the District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and as a special master for the New York State Supreme Court in the 1st Judicial Department, according to a bio of him still posted on the USCA-2nd Circuit’s website. A military veteran, he was a First Lieutenant in U.S. Army Intelligence and Security from 1961 to 1963. His philanthropic work included the Lenox Hill Hospital Board of Trustees, the Cardinal’s Committee of the Laity for Catholic Charities of New York, and the Kosciuszko Foundation.

Straub considered his employment at his father’s store, and its culturally diverse visitors and flavor, as an important lesson on inclusion and participation “in the public process,” he said in remarks at his investiture ceremony for the court.

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