Hon. Dorothy Eisenberg ’50, Celebrated Federal Judge, Dies at 92

The Honorable Dorothy Eisenberg ’50, who served for 25 years as a U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge in the Eastern District of New York, died on February 28, 2022. Among her many associations and honors, Judge Eisenberg was a member of the Committee on Character & Fitness, Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department and a Panel Trustee for the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, a former president of the Nassau Suffolk Women’s Bar Association, and founder president of the Theodore Roosevelt American Inn of Court.

Born in Brooklyn on October 7, 1929, Eisenberg received her B.A. from Brooklyn College and, in 1950, her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School, when she was just 20 years old. She began her career with Otterbourg, Steindler, Houston & Rosen, P.C. After taking a leave of absence to raise her four children (among them Leslie A. Eisenberg ’92), she returned to practicing law in 1970 with the Mineola firm of Goldman Horowitz & Cherno. There, she began concentrating her practice on the then-fledgling field of bankruptcy law. She went on to become an active and highly respected member of the bankruptcy bar and the first woman partner with Shaw, Licitra, Eisenberg, Esernio & Schwartz, P.C., of Garden City, where she practiced from 1981-1989. In 1989 she was appointed to the federal bench. 

Eisenberg, who retired from the federal bench in 2014, was a distinguished participant in Brooklyn Law School’s Barry L. Zaretsky Roundtable, furthering the scholarship and legacy of the late Professor Barry Zaretsky, a faculty member for nearly two decades and a luminary in bankruptcy and commercial law. She was a member of the Roundtable’s Steering Committee since its inception. 

Professor Michael Gerber said that Dorothy was a wonderful friend to Brooklyn Law School. “She was a devoted and beloved mentor to our students, many of whom clerked and interned in her chambers.  She was a founding member of our Zaretsky Roundtable Steering Committee and she drove into Brooklyn every year – no matter how bad the traffic or the weather – to participate.  She was one of a kind, a great friend, and she will be dearly missed.”

A chapel service for Judge Eisenberg will be held Wednesday, March 2, 2022, from 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM at Boulevard-Riverside Chapels, 1450 Broadway, Hewlett, New York 11557.