Albert B Lewis

Albert B. Lewis, a former New York State Superintendent of Insurance, State Senator and Brooklyn Democratic District Leader, died on August 7, at the age of 95. The cause was complications from Alzheimer’s disease.

A graduate of Lafayette High School, Lewis matriculated at Brooklyn College before being drafted into the Army in December 1943. This son of Brooklyn was assigned to the horse cavalry in Fort Riley, Kansas before being sent to fight in the Pacific Theater. He had a lucky war, on the ship for the land invasion of Japan when the country surrendered in August 1945. Lewis was part of the first wave of the US Army of Occupation, spending nearly a year in Kyoto. He wrote his letters home in fluent Yiddish. Discharged in 1946, he enrolled at City College of New York and received his Bachelors in Business Administration and Accounting in 1948. He qualified as a Certified Public Accountant and then attended St. John’s University Law School at night, graduating with an LLB in 1954.

Lewis was elected to the New York State Senate from what was then the 20th District spanning Bensonhurst, Coney Island, Brighton and Borough Park. He was reelected by wide margins six times. A maverick Democrat, he often bucked party leadership. Despite the conservative outlook of his largely Catholic and Hasidic district, he voted for abortion reform in the early 1970’s, as New York by a very narrow margin became one of the first states in the country to legalize abortion. He also opposed public support of gambling, and was active in efforts to prevent compulsive gambling . His independence in the Senate, largely split between a conservative upstate majority and a progressive New York City Democratic caucus, frequently made him a bridge between various groups and he was regularly called on by then-Governor Nelson Rockefeller for advice on his legislative program. Lewis marveled that the son of parents who had come in steerage to the United States was being consulted by a Rockefeller.

Lewis was a strong supporter of Israel, having lost family in the Holocaust. He was a tireless fundraiser for Israel and supporter of Soviet Jewish migration and the rights of American Jews to live full lives as Americans in accordance with Jewish traditions, including legislation that prevented restrictions on Kosher slaughter and local elections on the Sabbath. His honors from Jewish groups were numerous, but he was proudest of meeting with an aged David Ben-Gurion on his first visit to Israel in 1971. He made numerous visits thereafter.

In 1978, Governor Carey nominated Lewis as Superintendent of Insurance. Lewis ran the Insurance Department as a populist Democrat, fighting against strong opposition to limit insurance rate increases for individuals and to protect consumers against predatory practices. He began a specialized fraud unit and also secured legislation to create a New York Insurance Exchange and Free Trade Zone to compete with insurance exchanges abroad—primarily Lloyd’s of London—in corporate and commercial insurance. The media dubbed it “Al’s of New York.” Lewis had great loyalty and respect for the dedicated public servants at the New York State Insurance Department and many remained close to him until the time of his death. Lewis left the Insurance Department in 1983 and practiced law for the next three decades, retiring as a partner of D’Amato & Lynch. He wrote three books on insurance and fraud.

Albert Lewis was born on October 16, 1925 in Brooklyn and grew up in the district he came to represent. He was the son of immigrants fleeing Tsarist pogroms in what is now Belarus.

Lewis married Sara Anne Beresniakoff in 1949, who taught English at his alma mater, Lafayette High School, for more than 35 years. They had three children, David (Carol Hayward) a New York Court of Claims Judge, Eric (Emily Spitzer), an international lawyer in Washington, and Jonathan (Marisa), an advertising copywriter in New York. Sara Anne Lewis died in 1985 after 36 happy years of marriage. He married Leila Stein, a widowed family friend, in 1986, and they too found great happiness for nearly 35 years. He had four step-sons, Harmon (Nadine), Gregg (Dina) Eric (Cathy) and Daniel Stein; six grandchildren; eleven step-grandchildren; a great grandchild and two step great grandchildren. His beloved wife, Leila Lewis, survives him.

Albert Lewis was a great story and joke teller, a fierce table tennis and stickball player, and an inveterate traveler, including being part of an early official delegation after the opening of China. An opera lover, he delighted in being a supernumerary as a cardinal in Rigoletto at the Met. He bought a house in the mid-1980’s above Three Mile Harbor in East Hampton and spent many wonderful days there with his family. As ill as he was, he had a last great joy in meeting his COVID-born great-grandson just before he passed away.