Jay Greenfield (1932-2025)
Jay Greenfield died peacefully on June 29, at the age of 92. Having grown up in Rockaway, Queens, Jay was a graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Law School, where he was a Law Review editor. Following service as a lieutenant in Korea, he began his long career at Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison in 1961, where he became a senior litigation partner. Deeply committed to social justice, he was a volunteer attorney during Freedom Summer 1964 and did pro bono work for the Coalition for the Homeless, the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, and voting rights. Committed to Judaism and Tzedakah, he was President of Rye Community Synagogue.
Jay’s devotion to public service and social justice had a direct connection to the Spanish Civil War: he was only five years old when his much older and much-adored brother Hy joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and shipped out for Spain. In a letter from Spain to his family in Rockaway, Hy had addressed his little brother: “You ask why I am here? I am here to make the world a better place for little children like you.” Hy was killed in Spain, and Jay and his family would carry the weight and trauma of that loss forever. In a 2007 interview, Jay affirmed: “Whenever I think of doing something, I think of my brother.” If he did pro bono work, he added, it was “partly because my brother wanted to make the world a better place.” In the same interview, Jay summarized the lesson he learned from Hy: “If you believe in something, and you say you believe in it, you ought to be willing to put your body where your mouth is.” Jay not only honored his brother’s memory through his lifelong commitment to social justice; he also took the extraordinary step of locating Hy’s grave in Spain and celebrating a proper memorial service there. [Jay Greenfield, “My Brother’s Resting Place,” The Volunteer, Vol. 23, No. 5, Winter 2001, pp. 6-7.]
Jay was the adoring and beloved husband for 67 years of Judith Carol Greenfield (née Kweskin); the loving, generous father of Susan Celia Greenfield (Matthew Weissman); Mark Greenfield (Laura Barnett); and Ben Greenfield (Abby); and a wise, playful grandfather to Anna Weissman (Ryan Kendig), Lenny Weissman, and Jack Allen Greenfield. Contributions in his memory may be made to Congregation Rodeph Sholom (Refugee and Immigration Support) and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives.
