David Gershon Trager (December 23, 1937 – January 5, 2011) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (in case citations, E.D.N.Y.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction spans five counties in New York State: the four Long Island counties of Nassau, S ...

Education

Born in Mount Vernon,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, Trager received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1959 and a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1962. He was in private practice of law in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

from 1963 to 1967, acting as assistant corporation counsel to New York City in 1967. He was a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

Kenneth B. Keating Kenneth Barnard Keating (May 18, 1900 – May 5, 1975) was an American politician, diplomat, and judge who served as a United States Senator representing New York from 1959 until 1965. A member of the Republican Party, he also served in the ...

of the

New York State Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by t ...

from 1968 to 1969, and to

Stanley H. Fuld Stanley Howells Fuld (August 23, 1903 – July 22, 2003) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He was Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1967 to 1973. Life Born in Manhattan, New York City, Fuld was the son of Eman ...

, Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals in 1969.

Career

Trager became an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...

of Eastern District of New York from 1970 to 1972. He was an associate professor of law at

Brooklyn Law School Brooklyn Law School (BLS) is a private law school in New York City. Founded in 1901, it has approximately 1,100 students. Brooklyn Law School's faculty includes 60 full-time faculty, 15 emeriti faculty, and a number of adjunct faculty. Brookly ...

from 1972 to 1974. He was United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York from 1974 to 1978. He returned to Brooklyn Law School as a professor of law from 1978 to 1993, serving as dean of that institution from 1983 to 1993. He chaired a temporary state commission on investigations in New York State from 1983 to 1990, and was a member of the New York City Mayor's Committee on the Judiciary from 1981 to 1989.

Federal judicial service

On August 6, 1993, Trager was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

to a new seat on the

created by 104 Stat. 5089; He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on November 20, 1993, and received commission on November 24, 1993. Trager assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on March 1, 2006.

Recusal

In 1994, Trager was recused from working on the Crown Heights riot, due to potential bias as well as impartiality.

Death

Trager died, in his home in Brooklyn, of pancreatic cancer on January 5, 2011, aged 73.

References

Sources

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Trager, David Gershon 1937 births 2011 deaths Assistant United States Attorneys Brooklyn Law School faculty Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Deaths from pancreatic cancer Columbia College (New York) alumni Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York Deans of law schools in the United States People from Mount Vernon, New York People from Brooklyn United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of New York United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton Deans of Brooklyn Law School 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges