1. Robert Abrams was born on July 4,1938 and is an American attorney and politician.
27 Facts About Robert Abrams
1. 2.
Robert Abrams served as the attorney general of New York from 1979 to 1993 and was the Democratic nominee for the 1992 United States Senate election in New York.
3.
Robert Abrams graduated from Columbia College and the New York University School of Law.
4.
Robert Abrams launched his political career as a 27-year-old insurgent challenging his local assemblyman and the Bronx Democratic machine in a Democratic primary in September 1965.
5.
Robert Abrams was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1966 to 1969, sitting in the 176th, 177th and 178th New York State Legislatures.
6.
Robert Abrams was a delegate to the 1972,1976,1980 and 1984 Democratic National Conventions.
7.
Robert Abrams was elected New York Attorney General in 1978, the first time in forty years a Democrat was elected to that post, and was re-elected three times, in 1982,1986 and 1990.
8.
Robert Abrams defeated future Republican Rep Peter King in his 1986 re-election campaign for Attorney General.
9.
Robert Abrams built a reputation as an activist and consumer advocate, taking on environmental polluters, charity frauds, discrimination in housing and various activities in the marketplace.
10.
Robert Abrams is well-known for the manner in which he sensitively and professionally handled an extremely difficult assignment, that of Special Prosecutor investigating the claims of Tawana Brawley.
11.
Robert Abrams was elected president of the National Association of Attorneys General after serving as chairman of its Environment, Civil Rights and Anti-Trust Committees and was selected by his colleagues to receive the coveted Wyman Award as Outstanding Attorney General in the Nation.
12.
Robert Abrams was awarded honorary Doctor of Law degrees from Yeshiva University, Hofstra University, Long Island University and Pace University.
13.
Robert Abrams won the Democratic Primary, defeating former Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro, Rev Al Sharpton, and New York City Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman.
14.
Robert Abrams was initially the front-runner but by the end of the summer he was running second to Ferraro in polls.
15.
Robert Abrams was criticized for calling D'Amato a Fascist, and he narrowly lost the general election as a result of these controversies.
16.
Robert Abrams has remained active in civic affairs in New York.
17.
In 2006, New York Governor-Elect Eliot Spitzer appointed Robert Abrams to serve as co-chair of his Policy Advisory Committee on Governmental Reform for his Transition, and New York Attorney General-Elect Andrew Cuomo appointed him Executive Chair of his Transition Committee.
18.
In 2008, New York Governor David Paterson appointed Robert Abrams to serve on the Board of the United Nations Development Corporation.
19.
On May 9,2009, New York Governor David Paterson renamed the Justice Building at the Empire State Plaza in Albany the Robert Abrams Building for Law and Justice.
20.
Also in 2009, Attorney General elect Eric Schneiderman appointed Robert Abrams to serve as Honorary Co-chair of his Transition Committee.
21.
Robert Abrams served on numerous boards of community not for profit organizations: Fund for the City of New York, Citizens Union Board Member and President of the Citizens Union Foundation, America Israel Friendship League, and Council for a Secure America.
22.
Robert Abrams was a leader of the Soviet Jewry Movement in the United States.
23.
In 1991, Robert Abrams delivered the Raoul Wallenberg Lecture in Moscow before several hundred leaders of Jewish communities from each of the fifteen republics of the USSR.
24.
Robert Abrams served on the corporate boards of Sterling Bancorp and Sterling National Bank for 18 years.
25.
Robert Abrams resolved a controversy between the Jewish community and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints concerning the church's proxy baptism practice.
26.
Robert Abrams established joint programs between the two communities, including initiating a joint Jewish-LDS delegation to visit Israel in 2016 to commemorate the 175th anniversary of LDS Apostle Orson Hyde's dedicatory prayer at the Mount of Olives declaring Jerusalem and its environs to be the land of the Jewish people.
27.
Robert Abrams and Diane's second child Becky was born to them when Diane was 49 years old.