Judith (Gelb) Vogel

VOGEL (GELB)—Judith A. Judy Vogel, known professionally as Judy Gelb, died on February 17, 2024, at age 88. A legal pioneer, Judy was the first woman to be promoted to partner at Whitman & Ransom and one of the first women to become a member of any major New York law firm. After graduating from Columbia Law School shortly after her 23rd birthday, Judy served as Confidential Assistant to the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, before joining Whitman & Ransom in 1961. Following a long career at Whitman & Ransom and its successors (ultimately, Winston & Strawn), in 2007 Judy joined her son’s law firm, Allegaert Berger & Vogel, where she headed the Trusts and Estates practice until her retirement in 2022 at the age of 87, completing an extraordinary legal career spanning 64 years. Judy was predeceased by her beloved husband of over 40 years, Howard Vogel, and is survived by her son Michael and his wife Katie Kenney and their children Edie, Charlie, Nellie, Jody, and Daisy; by her brother Hal Gelb and his wife Pat and son Reilly; by her nephews Peter and his wife Raphaella and daughter Emma and Carsten and his wife Joni and children Satchi and Carolina. Judy is deeply mourned by her family and by a wealth of friends, some going back more than six or seven decades and others generations younger than herself, who admired her as a role model and treasured her warmth, kindness, intellect, and integrity. Donations in Judy’s memory may be made to the World Wildlife Fund (https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.facebook.com/donate/7620009598031939/10159436769166851/__;!!M2D_dUfSiN4E!Ng8j6XHASWu3n8A6tY-RR_wHhjhpJS0ESZeInDAOYikDGHdMEeqRatTigXWsvJHNowgD7VoksnzyuZeaOfR5W78$) or to the Columbia Law School Annual Fund - Student Support (https://law.givenow.columbia.edu/?alloc=18580#).