Manfred Ohrenstein

Manfred Ohrenstein (born August 5, 1925) is a lawyer and the senior partner of the New York law firm of Ohrenstein & Brown, LLP. He is a former member of the New York State Senate. A Democrat, he represented Manhattan from 1961 until 1994. From 1975 until 1994, he served as the New York State Senate Minority Leader. He is married to Dr. Marilyn Bacher and has two children, Nancy and David and four grandchildren.

The son of a furniture merchant, Manfred "Fred" Ohrenstein was born in 1925 in Mannheim, Germany. In 1938, Ohrenstein and his family, who were Jewish, fled Nazi Germany. Ohrenstein and his family settled in Brownsville, Brooklyn.

Ohrenstein graduated from Brooklyn College in 1948 with a B.A Degree, Cum Laude. He thereafter attended Columbia Law School from 1948 to 1951, where he was designated as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and graduated with the degree of Juris Doctor. From 1952 to 1954, Ohrenstein served in the U.S. Army as a First Lieutenant, Judge Advocate General Corps. After leaving active duty he continued to serve in the military as a Captain in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1954-1960. On leaving active duty he was appointed as an assistant district attorney by the Manhattan District Attorney Frank Hogan and served from 1954 to 1958. He left the New York District Attorney’s Office in 1958 to resume the practice of law in New York City and in 1983 helped form the law firm of Ohrenstein & Brown, LLP. In addition to New York State, he is admitted to practice before the Court of Military Appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He also became active in New York politics and in 1960 was elected to the New York State Senate representing the West Side of Manhattan. In 1975 he became the Democratic Leader of the New York State Senate. In 1980 he also served as Chairman of the New York Delegation to the Democratic National Convention which nominated Jimmy Carter for President.

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