Judge Charles Arthur Posner was niftar on Wednesday, 20 Sivan 5764 (June 9, 2004) at the age of 55, leaving behind thousands whose lives he has touched for the better through his many roles: friend, counselor, community leader, lawyer, prosecutor and judge.

If the measure of a man is his legacy, we are bereft of an unparalleled leader of the many communities he served.

Charles Arthur Posner – Koppel Avrom ben Ze’ev – was born on November 29, 1948 to William Posner and Marjorie Wolfson Posner, a”h. He was the second of three children, following his sister, Nancy, by a couple of years and preceding his brother, Ira, by four minutes. The ideals of service to others were taught to the Posner children by word and example. William was one of the founders of the Glenwood Jewish Center and a leader of the Jewish War Veterans. Marjorie was famous for her chesed and her outreach to those in need. 

Charles was educated in the New York City public school system. The foundation of his Jewish life was in the Talmud Torah of the Glenwood Jewish Center, followed by the Marsha Leah Hebrew High School and Yeshivah Marbitzei Torah. 

An accomplished artist, he held an Associate in Art degree with a major in Commercial Art from City Tech, a Bachelor of Fine Art in Art Education from Pratt Institute and a Master of Fine Arts in Art Education from Brooklyn College. He was proud of the ten and a half years he spent as a teacher at Winthrop Junior High School and held an Advanced Certificate in Educational Administration and Supervision.

Charles attended New York Law School while teaching, earning his law degree in 1981. He was admitted to the Bar of the State of New York in April 1982.

As an assistant corporation counsel of the City of New York, he prosecuted juveniles in Family Court. Then he was appointed principal law clerk to New York State Supreme Court Justice Ruth Moskowitz.

In 1985 he was named project director of the Law Project of the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board and was responsible for a major recodification of the Workers Compensation Law. 

He became the principal law clerk to New York State Supreme Court Justice Gabriel M. Krausman in October 1987.

Charles and his wife, Lynn, active in the Madison and Roosevelt Democratic Clubs since 1970, were instrumental in a number of successful campaigns. In 1989 Charles was asked to apply his political skills to help Charles J. Hynes become Brooklyn’s district attorney. It was the beginning of a long and productive friendship.

Hynes won that 1989 election. Charles, his friend and counselor, went on to serve as an executive assistant D.A. and later as a deputy D.A. While in the district attorney’s office, Charles helped develop a number of innovative programs, such as Project Legal Lives, which have been replicated across the nation.

In addition to being an outstanding prosecutor, Charles had a unique ability to link diverse people and create bonds for the benefit of the wider community. One evening in Crown Heights, he introduced Henna White, a community activist he had met while working on the horrific murder of Pesah Leah Lapine, to Jean Griffith-Sandiford, whose son was murdered in a racially charged 1986 Howard Beach incident. Along with other Jewish, African- and Caribbean-American women, they created Mothers to Mothers, a group whose work brought a measure of peace to Crown Heights.

In yet another horrendous crime, a father was murdered, leaving behind a wife and young son alone and lost in a blur of pain and confusion. Charles could not leave them to flounder through life on their own. He took them under his wing, helped the mother find a job and became a mentor to the boy. He took him to Yankee games and was there for him as he grew up to become an exemplary young man of whom Charles was tremendously proud. He would frequently brag of the boy’s success in school or tell me how they enjoyed a trip or a ball game together.

In June 1995, then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani named Charles an interim Civil Court judge. Seven months later Charles was sworn in as a New York City Criminal Court judge; in December 1998 he was appointed to a full ten-year term.

Judge Posner proved to be an exemplary jurist. He gained a reputation among prosecutors and defense attorneys as a judge before whom it was a pleasure to appear. He was known to be tough, fair, decisive and unfailingly courteous to every person appearing before him. That courtesy was extended as well to court officers, clerks and cleaning staff. 

Defendants whom he had sentenced and whose rehabilitation he had followed would return to visit him and thank him for putting them back on the right path.

Judge Posner loved to have young people visit his courtroom. He would invite them to sit on the bench with him and, ever the teacher, delighted in explaining the law and how it was applied. He made himself available to Scouts to discuss the rights and duties of an American citizen, one of the key requirements for advancement.

Charles was president of Hillel Foundation of Brooklyn College for more than a decade. He also served as the president of the Council of Jewish Organizations of Flatbush, and it was under his aegis that a small, community-based service organization developed into a major chesed organization serving thousands of families in the Flatbush area. It is recognized today as one of the most effective COJOs in the city.

Charles also served on the board of directors of the Metropolitan New York Coordinating Council on Jewish Poverty, helping to actualize policies to serve additional thousands of Jews throughout the New York area.

His communal activism was not limited to Jewish causes. He was the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn AIDS Task Force, providing needed services throughout our borough to those afflicted, usually through no fault of their own, by the scourge of AIDS.

My wife, Judy, and I met Charles and Lynn through Jewish Marriage Encounter about twenty-five years ago. Over the years, we celebrated each others’ simchas, vacationed together and spent hundreds of Shabbosim together.

From the time we met, Charles was fascinated by my participation in Sabbath Observant Scouting. He was excited to hear that Camp Kunatah, which he and his brother had attended as boys, was still open – and still kosher!

In December 1985, Troop 611, Brooklyn, New York, was formed. It was Charles who noted that the 611th mitzvah is “to walk in His ways,” which became our Troop motto. Every time we got together he would tell me that he was going to come down and join up as soon as his son, Mark, was old enough. Sure enough, Charles, with Mark in hand, turned up at the Troop meeting as soon as Mark turned 10 and a half.

In the summer of 1987, Charles returned to Kunatah. The camp was just as he remembered it. He did the things he had enjoyed as a boy, this time along with his son, who became an Eagle Scout. Charles became a leader in the Troop and on the Brooklyn Jewish Committee on Scouting. With his help, the Jewish Chapel was refurbished, making it a kovodik place for learning and prayer – and where boys and leaders from all strands of Jewish life were made to feel welcome.

He served youth throughout Brooklyn as chair of the Breukelen District and as a vice president of Brooklyn Council. He was named chair of the Greater New York Councils Jewish Committee on Scouting and undertook to serve Jewish youth from all over the country by enhancing the Jewish programs at Camp Kunatah.

In December 1995, while on his way to join D.A. Hynes in lighting the menorah in front of the Brooklyn Supreme Court Building, Charles slipped and shattered his ankle.

His active life came to an abrupt halt. New challenges became part of his everyday life now that he faced the world as a disabled person. He underwent twelve operations in a vain effort to restore some function to his leg and, as it became more and more difficult for him to get around, he became aware of the many barriers that make it difficult for the disabled to fully participate in community life.

Recently, Charles had started a project to make Camp Kunatah fully accessible to disabled Scouts. He was passionate in his desire to make the Boy Scout program available to any boy who wanted it. He saw the program’s goal as that of “building mentchen,” envisioning a camp where all barriers between a boy and his desire to be a Scout would be removed.

His wanted Camp Kunatah to be neither a Jewish Scout camp nor a camp for disabled Scouts, but rather the one camp where barriers would not exist, where every boy who wanted it could have the fun and adventure he and his brother experienced in the 1950’s.

I hope that in these too few words I have provided some insight into this very special person: A loving husband, a devoted father and grandfather (how he loved his einekhlach – and how they loved their grandpa), a man dedicated to service, determined to leave the world a bit better than he found it, a brilliant lawyer, an outstanding jurist.

He leaves behind Lynn Brother Posner, his beloved wife of 34 years; his daughter, Beth Posner Ginsberg, her husband Neal Ginsberg, R.N., and their sons Joseph Elliot and Jacob Scott; his son Mark Posner, J.D., his wife Caron and their children Ryan Seth and Stephanie Melissa.  Judge Posner is also survived by his father, William Posner, J.D., his brother Ira Posner, M.D. and his sister, Nancy Becker.

He was my dearest friend, my counselor, my brother in all but blood.

Charles, the world is a much, much better place for your having been in it.

How we all miss him.

May his soul be bound up in eternal life.