Political adviser Arthur Finkelstein succumbed Saturday to lung cancer at the age of 72 at his home in Ipswich, Massachusetts.
Finkelstein was known for his incisive acumen as a political adviser on campaigns that brought some of the top leaders to power in the United States and Israel.
His clients in the Jewish State included incumbent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (2001), as well as Yisrael Beytenu party chairman Avigdor Liberman.
Internationally Finkelstein worked on campaigns in Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Kosovo, and Ukraine, as well as others.
Among U.S. politicians he advised U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato (R-NY), and helped bring New York’s Republican Governor George Pataki to victory in 1994 as well.
Born May 18, 1945 in Brooklyn, New York, Finkelstein grew up in Queens and later in Levittown, New York, later attending City University of New York’s Queens College, graduating in 1967.
He was described in 1996 by CNN as “the stuff of Hollywood. . . a man who can topple even the most powerful foes, yet so secretive that few have ever seen him.”
May his memory be for a blessing.
