Representative Leo Frederick Rayfiel

Leo Frederick Rayfiel (March 22, 1888 – November 18, 1978) was an American lawyer, jurist, and Democratic politician who served as a United States Representative from New York from 1945 to 1949 and as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York from 1947 to 1978. He was born in New York City on March 22, 1888, the son of Hyman Rafiel and Hannah Rich Rayfiel. One of eight siblings who lived to adulthood, he moved with his family to Brooklyn when he was three years old. There he attended Public School 84 and later Boys High School, from which he graduated in 1906. He went on to study law at New York University School of Law, receiving a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1908.

After completing his legal education, Rayfiel initially pursued interests outside the legal profession. Rather than immediately beginning a law career, he toured the United States as a traveling musician in a troupe that included Gus Edwards, George Jessel, and Eddie Cantor. He subsequently entered the garment industry, working as a salesman based in Atlanta, Georgia. For two years he managed a clothing store in Denver, Colorado. In 1914 he returned to Brooklyn and resumed his focus on the law, undertaking further study in preparation for the New York bar examination.

In June 1916, Rayfiel married Flora Marks, his former bookkeeper and the daughter of garment manufacturer Harris Marks. The couple had three sons. Their son Robert became a chemical engineer; David achieved prominence as a Hollywood screenwriter; and Howard practiced law and worked as a screenwriter, serving for many years as counsel to Desilu Studios. Rayfiel was admitted to the bar in 1918 and established a legal practice in Brooklyn, where he specialized in real estate law. He practiced law continuously from 1918 until 1945, building a reputation in his field while becoming increasingly active in Democratic Party politics.

A loyal Democrat, Rayfiel was first approached to run for public office in 1928, when he declined a nomination for the New York State Assembly in order to continue his legal practice. A decade later, he entered electoral politics, winning election to the New York State Assembly in 1938. He served in the Assembly from 1939 to 1944, representing his Brooklyn constituency during a period that spanned the end of the Great Depression and the early years of World War II. His legislative work in Albany helped establish his standing within the party and prepared him for national office.

Rayfiel was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives in 1944. He was chosen to represent New York in the 80th Congress and won reelection to the 81st Congress, serving from January 3, 1945, until his resignation on September 13, 1947. His service in Congress thus encompassed two terms in office, from 1945 to 1949, during a significant period in American history that included the closing months of World War II and the beginning of the postwar era. As a member of the House of Representatives, he participated in the legislative process, represented the interests of his New York constituents, and contributed to the work of the Democratic Party in Congress.

Rayfiel’s congressional career overlapped with his transition to the federal judiciary. On June 30, 1947, President Harry S. Truman nominated him to a judgeship on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, filling the vacancy created by the departure of Judge Grover M. Moscowitz. The United States Senate confirmed his nomination on July 23, 1947, and he received his commission on July 30, 1947. In order to assume his judicial duties, he resigned from the House of Representatives on September 13, 1947. He thus moved directly from legislative service to the federal bench, beginning a judicial career that would span more than three decades.

As a United States district judge, Rayfiel served on the Eastern District of New York from 1947 until he assumed senior status on March 4, 1966. In senior status he continued to hear cases and participate in the work of the court, extending his judicial service until his death in 1978. His tenure on the bench covered a period of substantial change in federal law and in the life of New York City and its surrounding communities, and he was recognized as part of the broader tradition of Jewish American jurists and Jewish members of the United States Congress.

Leo Frederick Rayfiel’s service as a senior judge ended on November 18, 1978, when he died in Wayne, New Jersey. He was 90 years old. He was interred in Wellwood Cemetery in West Babylon, New York, closing a long career in law, politics, and public service that had begun in Brooklyn in the early twentieth century and extended through his years in the New York State Assembly, the United States Congress, and the federal judiciary.