Published by New York Times on Aug. 6, 2023.
WEINER--Stephen A. Stephen A. Weiner of Sands Point, NY passed away on August 1, 2023. He was born in Brooklyn to Joseph and Ruth Lessall Weiner on November 20, 1933. Steve attended the Horace Mann School, and graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College and cum laude from Yale Law School where he was Comment Editor of the Law Journal. Following six months in the United States Army, he began a 64-year law career. Steve entered the firm of Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam and Roberts (WSPR) in 1958 and departed from 1965 to 1968 to be Acting Professor at the University of California School of Law in Berkeley, where he also served as Chairman of the campus-wide Student Conduct Committee. He returned to WSPR as a partner and in its successor firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, serving as Vice-Chairman of the WSPR Management Committee 1984 - 1997, and senior counsel and member of the Professional Responsibility Committee from 2002 to 2022. Upon reaching senior status, he returned to teaching. He was Adjunct Professor of Law at Brooklyn School of Law from 2003 to 2022, Special Professor of Law at Hofstra School of Law 2008 - 2013, Adjunct Professor of Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law 2010 to 2022.
He was proudof the high grades awarded him by his students, a number of whom he maintained contact with after they graduated. Since 1998, Steve held a number of Judicial Appointments by the Supreme Court State of New York First Department, including membership on the Committee on Character and Fitness and as Special Master where he mediated over 300 cases. In 1998 the Chief Judge of the State of New York appointed him to the New York State Judicial Institute on Professionalism. Steve also was as arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and was a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. While Steve derived great satisfaction from his chosen profession, his greatest pleasure was being with his devoted family - his wife, of 65 years, Mina (Rieur), their daughter Karen Goss and her husband Charles, their son James Weiner and his wife Amy; grandchildren Jessica Goss Tuorto and her husband Rich, Derek Goss, Griffin Weiner, Payton Weiner, and an extended family of in-laws, nieces, nephews and cousins. He was predeceased by his sister Elizabeth Vorenberg and his son Paul. Steve truly enjoyed his home, a wide circle of friends, traveling here and abroad, New York Times crossword puzzles and a weekly tennis game in which he participated until last year. A celebration of life will be held in October. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Port Washington Community Chest.