I am so sorry for your loss. I worked closely with Neal when we was at the OSI, and always found him to be an inspiration.  He also had a tremendous sense of humor! I remember one particular afternoon, we sat down for lunch after a grueling morning of work, and as we were all about to take our first bite, Neal yelled out,"Stop!" We did, and he said. "We have to say a blessing. Baruchus my tuchas on Pesach and Sukkos!" I laughed so hard... and so did we all! It was perfection! I told my family about it as soon as I got home, and we have now started many a meal with the same prayer!
May Neal's memory be for blessing, and may he rest in peace.

Neal Sher was a great friend who always made time to be there in a time of need.
All the more remarkable , he always found that time despite the demands of the heroic work he did throughout his life.
It is hard to imagine the powerful forces that opposed Neal throughout the many battles that he fought.
He took on the US State Department to get former UN Head and secret Nazi officer, Kurt Waldheim, banned from the USA.
He took on NASA and the Military Industrial Complex when he got Nazi Rocket Scientist and slave labor Commandant Arthur Rudolph deported from the USA.
He took on some of Americas largest Universities when he held them responsible for Anti Semitic attacks on their campus.
He took on the US Army and the Administration in 2009, when he fought for full benefits for the US Soldiers  who were victims of the Islamic terror attack at Fort Hood, Texas., that was initially declared to be "domestic violence". Following Neal's efforts, the US Congress awarded Purple Hearts to those US Soldiers .
Well known and close to foreign government ministers, ambassadors, cabinet secretaries, and cultural icons he was never a name dropper nor arrogant.
His work will inspire others who will defend Jews, American victims of Islamic Terror and the State of Israel.


from the former director of OSI
(Office of Special Investigation, Dept of Justice)

Neal’s sudden death brings a mournful end to a critically important and notably successful chapter in OSI’s history. When I became Director of the Office in early 1980, I appointed Neal as Deputy Director for Litigation, responsible for oversight of our lawyers in the preparation, filing and litigation of our cases. It was a responsibility for which he was eminently qualified and which he carried out with the highest standards of professionalism and ethics. His dedication and leadership of our litigation docket resulted in an unbroken series of successful actions that solidified OSI in its mission to seek the denaturalization and deportation of those with the blood of innocents on their hands. As a federal judge who reviewed OSI’s operations some years later concluded, “OSI played hardball, but they played by the rules.” When I stepped down in 1983, I urged the Assistant AG for the Criminal Division to appoint Neal as clearly the most qualified attorney to be Director of the Office, and he led the Office for years afterwards with the dedication and success he had demonstrated from the beginning. All of us who believe in OSI’s mission and were proud to be a part of it in its 30 years of pursuing justice will forever owe Neal our gratitude and admiration for his unceasing work. May his memory be for a blessing.


Allan

As a boyhood friend I followed Neal's career in awe of his accomplishments to restore justice from the Nazi travesties. Sometimes the news came from his father who was our mailman and a very warm person.

I had the extraordinary privilege of serving under Neal Sher at the former Office of Special Investigations during his tenure as a trial attorney, then Deputy Director, and finally as Director.  He was my mentor and we became close friends.  As Deputy Director and then Director during OSI's formative years, from 1980 (OSI's first full year of operations) into 1994 (when he left federal service and, as his principal deputy, I succeeded him), he led OSI during the time that it won the majority of its most important and highest profile cases against participants in World War II-era Nazi-sponsored crimes of persecution (such as those against Andrija Artukovic, Karl Linnas,  Arthur L.H. Rudolph, and Jakob Reimer).  He personally tried the Office’s very first case, U.S. v. Osidach, and also the key early case of U.S. v. Liudas Kairys; OSI won both cases.  Neal was a brilliant trial attorney and was particularly effective in court (notably during cross-examination) and in questioning suspects.  He also originated the proactive and unprecedented OSI investigative program that ultimately generated the vast majority of DOJ's Nazi cases for three decades.  Under his wise leadership of OSI, the Department of Justice became the world leader in these prosecutions.  Neal’s unswerving devotion to achieving a measure of justice on behalf of the victims of Nazi inhumanity, and his success in pursuing that highly challenging mission, won him awards and plaudits from Holocaust survivor groups and from Jewish organizations.  His tenacity and skill in pursuing justice, his remarkable courage, and his warmth and steady hand as a leader, inspired a great many people, myself certainly among them.  A more generous friend one could not possibly have.   What an amazing experience it was to work for a man who was a hero to me and so many others.  Words are wholly inadequate to convey how much I will miss him.  Deepest condolences to his wife Bonnie and brother Bobby.   Rest in peace, Chief.  

I had the pleasure of knowing Neal when he returned to New York through my friendship with his brother Bobby. Neal taught some classes in my real estate school which required an attorney and I was overwhelmed with the incredible appreciation from my students. He was a joy to know and will be greatly missed by all. May God bless his soul and watch over his family.

Justice, Justice thou shall pursue
 Those were the words Neal lived by.  He dedicated his life to the pursuit of justice for the Jewish people, particularly the victims of the Holocaust.
  He was a good and admired friend  and colleague of many years.  I shall treasure his friendship and his memory; they are as blessings.

During my 3L internship in the office, Neal asked me to join DOJ's Office of Special Investigations following graduation.  I did and it was the best law job ever, with the best team, amassed by Neal.    Neal was brilliant, courageous, and worked each day there to pursue Justice for the Jewish people and all who suffered in the Shoah.  He was a true hero.  I'm grateful.  Hamakom Yinachem Etchem.  

My deepest condolences to my dearest friend's family.  Thank you for sharing  Neal with me.  I was a young girl from the  inner city of Washington,  DC., who joined DOJ/OSI in the early 80s,  Neal was the Deputy Director.   I will never forget him encouraging and giving me sound career guidance . I have never forgotten Neal.  He will always have a special place in my heart.   Rest in Paradise Neal.

Neal was a dear friend over the decades and we collaborated  through our respective public lives - on many issues vital to the Jewish community and Israel.  Depending on the matter, these activities were conducted boldly or quietly. In recent years, Neal also became the advocate of victims of Islamist terrorism on our shores. We are mourning the loss of a great Jew and a great American.

I met Neil through my dear friend Bonnie who became his devoted wife. He was one of the finest individuals I have ever known . No matter how busy he was he made  time for his friends and family   I will miss him greatly.   May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life. 

Neal was a true hero of the Jewish People and a great American.

His work on behalf of Holocaust survivors was exceeded by no one.

My deepest sympathies,

Larry J. Hochberg
Chicago

 I worked with Neal for several years at the Office of Investigations  in the Department of Justice.  He was a dedicated attorney and an advocate for those who suffered religious and racial persecution.  My condolences to his family and friends.  May God comfort you among the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.  

Being someone’s college roommate, close friend and speaking with him at least once a week for almost 60 years, I have many memories of Neal.  One particularly revealing of Neal’s character   involves my wife Gail’s mother, Erna Schlesinger, a survivor of Gross Rosen and other Nazi concentration camps.   When Neal heard that she had died from Leukemia after a long fight, he told us that though overwhelmingly busy at the Justice Department in DC, he was coming to her funeral in NJ.

The majority of the people at her funeral were survivors of Nazi slave labor and death camps, their children and grandchildren. He asked if he could say a few words and spoke  about her life which he knew well.  He also spoke of the many other Holocaust survivors who he had met in his work and what they all meant to him. There was not a dry eye in evidence when he finished his off-the-cuff remarks.  

Neal was a hero to the people there, to  survivors everywhere, their families and friends and to all who knew what he and his colleagues accomplished in pursuit of justice.   His memory is blessed.


He was well-regarded as Chief of the Department of Justice's OSI. He was a wonderful writer who could argue clearly and decisively and all who worked with him then will certainly miss him. He died much, much too young.

Neal was a dear long, longtime friend. We grew up together and shared adventures, sports, learning and even maturing.   He blossomed into a hard working, important and respected attorney fighting for justice and dignity for many different people. He also made sure that “we didn’t forget” the tragedies of bigotry, racism and the holocaust. 
He was a real “mensch” and he had a great jumpshot. He’ll be missed. 

ZL Neal Sher - Very sorry to hear this news.  Knew Neal for a relatively-short period, some  25 years ago. 

Neal and I met over ten years ago when we together represented a Jewish student, Jessica Felber who was attacked on the University of California Berkeley Campus by a radical member of the SJP.

After that case, Neal and I became friends and spoke several times a month.  

Neal was a great lawyer.  More importantly, he was smart, kind , funny and compassionate.  He was a warrior on behalf of the Jewish people.  I will miss him dearly.

OBITUARY

Neal Sher

August 29, 1947 – October 3, 2021

Riverside Memorial Chapel

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