Judith S. Kaye
| Judith Kaye | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Chairman of the Commission on Judicial Nomination | |
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In office March 31, 2009 – March 31, 2013 |
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| Appointed by | David Paterson |
| Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals | |
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In office March 23, 1993 – December 31, 2008 |
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| Appointed by | Mario Cuomo |
| Preceded by | Richard D. Simons |
| Succeeded by | Jonathan Lippman |
| Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals | |
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In office 1983–1993 |
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| Appointed by | Mario Cuomo |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Judith Ann Smith August 4, 1938 Monticello, New York, U.S. |
| Died | January 7, 2016 (aged 77) Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater |
Barnard College New York University School of Law |
Judith Ann Kaye (née Smith; August 4, 1938 – January 7, 2016) was an American lawyer, jurist and the longtime Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, serving in that position from March 23, 1993 until December 31, 2008. She was the first woman to serve as chief judge, the highest judicial office in New York State, and the longest-serving chief judge in New York history.
Kaye was born as Judith Ann Smith in Monticello, New York on August 4, 1938. Her parents, Benjamin and Lena (née Cohen) Smith, were Jewish immigrants from Poland who lived on a farm in the hamlet of Maplewood, Sullivan County, New York and operated a women's apparel store.
She skipped two grades, graduating from high school at age of fifteen. She then graduated from Barnard College in 1958 with B.A. in Latin American civilization. She became a reporter for the Union City, New Jersey Hudson Dispatch, where she was a society news reporter, but left to become a lawyer.
She worked as a copy editor during the day and attended night school at the New York University Law School, graduating with an LL.B. cum laude in 1962, as one of ten women in a class of almost 300. Kaye was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1963.
She began her career in private practice in New York City at the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell. Kaye left Sullivan & Cromwell to join the IBM legal department. While raising a family, Kaye worked as a part-time assistant to the dean of the New York University Law School, her alma mater.
In 1969, Kaye was hired by the prominent law firm of Olwine, Connelly, Chase, O'Donnell & Weyher as a litigation associate. In 1975, she became that firm's first female partner.
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