1. Michael Jay Wildes was born on November 27,1964 and is an American lawyer and politician who currently serves as the 38th mayor of Englewood, New Jersey.
69 Facts About Michael Wildes
1. 2.
Michael Wildes previously served as the 36th mayor from 2004 to 2010.
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Michael Wildes was reelected in 2006 and again in 2018.
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An immigration attorney, Michael Wildes is the managing partner of the law firm Michael Wildes and Weinberg PC, works as an immigration counsel to Davidoff Hutcher and Citron LLP, and volunteers for the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
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Michael Wildes' mother, Ruth Schoenwalter Michael Wildes, was a prominent member of the Jewish community in Forest Hills, New York, where she lived and raised her family.
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Michael Wildes' father, Leon Michael Wildes, was an American Jewish lawyer who was born and raised in Olyphant, Pennsylvania.
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Leon Michael Wildes successfully defended John Lennon and Yoko Ono from a deportation attempt by the US government.
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In 2016, Leon Michael Wildes wrote a book, John Lennon vs The USA, which recounted the details of the Lennon case.
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Michael Wildes was a longtime professor of law at Benjamin N Cardozo School of Law.
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Michael Wildes was born on November 27,1964, at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
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Michael Wildes was a member of Community Board 6, a member of the Local Claims and Adjudication Board of New York State, and a candidate for Democratic District Leader of the 28th Assembly District of New York State.
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In 1993, Michael Wildes joined the law firm Michael Wildes and Weinberg PC, where he represented several defectors who had provided difficult to obtain national security information to the United States, as well as high-profile immigrant parents who had been separated from their children.
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Michael Wildes obtained visas, green cards, and helped navigate the naturalization process for his foreign clients, including artists, athletes, models, and businesspeople.
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In 1998, Michael Wildes was elected to the Englewood, New Jersey City Council, serving two terms until 2003.
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Michael Wildes testified in front of Congress about anti-terrorism legislation in 1999, at the request of US Representative Rob Andrews.
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In 2003, Michael Wildes ran for Mayor of the City of Englewood, New Jersey, a position he held for two terms from 2004 to 2010.
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Michael Wildes was raised in a high-achieving Modern Orthodox Jewish home in the Jewish tradition of tikkun olam.
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Michael Wildes served with the New York Police Department as an auxiliary police officer from 1982 to 1992.
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Michael Wildes is a known expert on security issues and has served as a consultant for government agencies and institutions, including Homeland Security.
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Michael Wildes served with the United States Attorney's Office in Brooklyn from 1989 to 1993 and testified on Capitol Hill in connection with anti-terrorism legislation.
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Michael Wildes served as a Special Assistant US Attorney until he retired from the US Attorney's Office in 1993 to join his father's law firm.
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Michael Wildes joined Michael Wildes and Weinberg PC, a law firm that specializes in immigration law, in 1993.
23.
Michael Wildes obtained political asylum for al-Khilewi, who now lives in hiding in the New York City area.
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In 1995, Michael Wildes represented Patricia Roush, an American mother whose two daughters had been abducted and taken to Saudi Arabia by her ex-husband.
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Michael Wildes negotiated a deal with Saudi diplomats that allowed Roush to visit Saudi Arabia on a visa, and allowed her to visit her children in Riyadh.
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Michael Wildes was allowed to see her children for two hours during her trip in 1995.
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In 1997, Michael Wildes represented Hani al-Sayegh, a Saudi Arabian citizen who had been wrongfully accused of involvement in the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing.
28.
In 2003, Michael Wildes represented Kwame James, who became known as "the shoe bomber hero" after subduing Richard Reid, the perpetrator of the 2001 shoe bomb plot.
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In 1988, Michael Wildes ran for Democratic District Leader of the 28th Assembly District, Part A in New York.
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Michael Wildes announced that he would run for the seat the same day.
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Michael Wildes named public education, neighborhood beautification, and engaging young people in the political process as his top priority issues.
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Michael Wildes won the general election with no opposition on November 3,1998.
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Michael Wildes was elected president pro tempore of the Englewood city council in 2000.
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Michael Wildes opposed the construction of a Home Depot in Englewood, citing environmental, sanitation, and beautification factors, as well as the local public outcry against the construction; he supported an elected school board, rather than an appointed one.
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In May 1999, during his first term on the city council, Michael Wildes was asked to testify in front of the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.
36.
Michael Wildes was invited to testify by Representative Rob Andrews.
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Michael Wildes supported the bill, which targeted those who "knowingly aid and abet" individuals who plan or participate in terrorist acts.
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Michael Wildes said he believed the bill struck an appropriate balance between defending the due process rights of individuals and defending the American public from acts of terrorism.
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In February 2003, local media speculated that Michael Wildes would run for mayor of Englewood.
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Michael Wildes had been raising Englewood's national profile by raising money for Democratic candidates.
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On Thursday, March 13,2003, Michael Wildes became the first candidate in the 2003 Englewood mayoral race to announce he was running to succeed Mayor Paul Fader, who had announced he would not be seeking reelection.
42.
Michael Wildes was sworn into his first term as mayor on January 1,2004, by United States Senator Frank Lautenberg and Kadijah Thomas, the 2004 valedictorian of Dwight Morrow High School.
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Michael Wildes held both of his grandfathers' Chumashim, one inscribed in 1929, at the swearing-in ceremony.
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In February 2004, Michael Wildes formed a task force to investigate reports by Latino immigrants living in Englewood that they had been targeted for exceedingly intrusive housing inspections.
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In March 2004, Michael Wildes ordered a study of Route 4 to check for possible repairs and other improvements to the highway.
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Michael Wildes was reelected to a second term on Tuesday, November 7,2006, with 4,379 votes.
47.
In February 2007, Michael Wildes was named chairman of a New Jersey State League of Municipalities Task Force to study the effect of illegal immigration on municipalities.
48.
On Monday, August 6,2007, Michael Wildes was appointed by New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine to a special Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Immigration.
49.
In 2008, MSNBC polled 1,000 mayors across the country, including Michael Wildes, to ask what suggestions they had for incoming President-elect Barack Obama.
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Michael Wildes named comprehensive immigration reform as the most important issue for Obama to focus on in his first term in office.
51.
In January 2009, Michael Wildes met with New Jersey Homeland Security officials to discuss community safety.
52.
Michael Wildes said he was most concerned about terrorism directed at schools and places of worship.
53.
At his fifth State of the City Address, Michael Wildes pledged to "push the limits of what we can do for the fine residents of this city" in his last year in office.
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Michael Wildes stressed education, taxes, and government as his highest priority issues for the end of his second term.
55.
On January 9,2009, Michael Wildes swore in Arthur O'Keefe as the new Chief of Police of Englewood.
56.
In February 2009, Michael Wildes announced he would not seek a third term as mayor, to become managing partner of Michael Wildes and Weinberg PC.
57.
In March 2012, Michael Wildes decided to run in New Jersey's newly redrawn 9th congressional district, based in Bergen and Passaic counties.
58.
Michael Wildes ultimately decided not to run and put his support behind Rothman in the Democratic primary.
59.
On November 2,2021, Michael Wildes was elected to a fourth three-year term as mayor of Englewood.
60.
On November 5,2024, Michael Wildes was elected to a fifth term as mayor of Englewood.
61.
Michael Wildes generated widespread controversy in 2009 when he organized rallies to oppose Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi's visit to New Jersey.
62.
Michael Wildes pressed the US State Department to prevent Gaddafi from staying in a tent on Donald Trump's estate in Englewood during the 2009 United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York City.
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Michael Wildes has served on the boards of several major philanthropy organizations and has become well known for his charitable contributions and volunteer work.
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Michael Wildes served as chair of the American Jewish Congress' Committee on International Terrorism, and was a member of the advisory board for the Urban League of Bergen County.
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Michael Wildes is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Boys Town Jerusalem, a Jewish orphanage in Israel.
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Michael Wildes has been a certified EMT since 1992, and is a volunteer for Hatzoloh, a Jewish emergency medical service in New York, and used to aid the Englewood Volunteer Ambulance Corp.
67.
Michael Wildes currently serves on the Board of Directors of WhyHunger, and is a member of the Council of Experts for the Community Security Service, an organization that protects the American Jewish Community.
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Michael Wildes is a member of the Lay Advisory of the New York Board of Rabbis, and is a member of the New York State Bar Association.
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In February 2004, Michael Wildes received the Aleh Foundation Civic Leadership Award for helping Aleh raise funds for developmentally disabled children in Israel.