Sen. Frank Lautenberg died June 3 at 89 of viral pneumonia, ending four decades in the Senate and a lifetime of Jewish activism.
“When he became involved in electoral Jewish politics, he didn’t forget his Jewish involvement,” said Mark Levin, the director of NCSJ, formerly the National Conference on Soviet Jewry.
A statement from Lautenberg’s office announcing his death outlined an array of far-reaching legislation in which he had a hand. It included laws that kept convicted domestic abusers from owning guns, banned smoking on planes and made 21 the minimum drinking age.
Those who were closest to Lautenberg said the law that had the most meaning for him was the one that bears his name.
The Lautenberg Amendment, passed in October 1989, facilitated the emigration of Soviet Jews by granting immigrant status to those who could show religious persecution in their native lands.
At a tribute in New York to Lautenberg last week hosted by Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, Lautenberg’s wife, Bonnie, called the amendment his “proudest achievement.”
Lautenberg grew up in Paterson, N.J., the son of poor Jewish immigrants from Poland and Russia. He served in the Army Signal Corps in World War II and earned a degree in economics at Columbia University through the GI Bill. The role of government in giving a poor kid from Paterson a shot at an Ivy League education undergirded Lautenberg’s subsequent commitment to social justice.
In 1974 he became chairman of the United Jewish Appeal. Within a year, he had increased its charitable intake to the second-highest level in its history.
Lautenberg gave prodigiously to Israel and was its champion in the Senate, where he served since 1982. But he also was outspoken in criticizing the state when he thought it erred. — jta