BERNARD NUSSBAUM

1937 - 2022

NUSSBAUM--Bernard. Bernard Nussbaum, a brilliant, generous mensch and a trailblazing litigator, died on Sunday, March 13, 2022, at the age of 84. Born in 1937, Bernie was the oldest son of Feivel and Molly Nussbaum, Jewish immigrants from Poland; his father became an organizer for the International Ladies Garment Workers' Union. He grew up as a poor street kid on the Lower East Side, then attended Stuyvesant High School, Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he served as the note editor of the law review and met his beloved wife Toby at a mixer with Brandeis. His professional accomplishments were starry: he was an Assistant United States Attorney under Robert Morgenthau; joined the then-tiny Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz in 1966, helping turn it into a legal powerhouse; oversaw the impeachment process for President Nixon; and served as White House Counsel for President Bill Clinton, sponsoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg and advising the President, presciently, against the appointment of a special counsel. He tried some of the most prominent legal cases of our time, among them, the World Trade Center case and the key battle to get fair pay raises for judges. Throughout his life, he was a generous mentor, his sharp mind and charismatic style inspiring many rising young attorneys. He also proudly served on many philanthropic boards, among them, Mount Sinai Hospital. Warm and voluble, Bernie was a great storyteller who could uncork a celebratory toast at the drop of a hat. He traveled widely, a taste that went back to the year he spent globe-trotting after law school, visiting thirty countries on the Harvard University Sheldon Traveling Fellowship. He read deeply about history and politics, rooted for the Giants, and loved hosting big family parties and sharing cigars and single- malt Scotch with life-long friends. He was predeceased by his beloved wives Toby Ann Nussbaum, who died in 2006, and Nancy Lee Kuhn, who died in 2021, as well as his brother Albert, who also died in 2021. He is survived by his brother Martin Nussbaum and sister-in-law Kane, his children Emily, Peter and Frank and his stepson Bill; their spouses Clive, Alexis, Carlye, and Chiti; and his grandchildren Wylie, Levi, Gabriel, Zev, Mia and Tabitha. There will be a service at Park Avenue Synagogue on Wednesday at 10:30am. We love you and miss you, Bernie.