Louis Astor Schoffel was a Jewish-American lawyer, politician, and judge from New York. Schoffel was elected and served in the New York State Assembly for 5 years starting in 1922. He then served as Registrar of Bronx County from 1926 to 1933. He served as a Municipal Court Justice for 20 years. Schoffe eventually opened up his own practice in the Bronx.
From Orchard Street to the Bench: Louis Schoffel
Louis Astor Schoffel was born on July 27, 1894, and resided with his family on Orchard Street in New York City, New York. Louis had five sisters named Helen (Carter), Lenore (Goldfarb), Sadie (Krakowen), Rose (Goldberg) and Sylvia (Marco). Schoffel was the son of Moses and Kate Schoffel. Mr. and Mrs. Schoffel were both Austrian immigrants who then moved to the Lower East Side. Moses was employed in the real estate business.
In 1912, Schoffel graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School. For a short time, Schoffel attended both the City College of New York and Long Island Medical College. Schoffel did not continue his studies at either of those colleges since his interests changed and he decided to switch to the study of law. Schoffel entered the New York Law School in 1913. In 1916, Schoffel graduated from New York Law with an LL.B. He then spent a year in a clerkship at the law office of A. A. Silberberg in Manhattan. Schoffel was admitted to the bar in 1917 and got a job at the Leon Kronfeld firm. A year later, he joined the firm Dechsler, Orenstein and Leff where he was employed for two years. In 1920, Schoffel opened his own practice in Manhattan. He later moved the practice to the Bronx.
In 1921, Schoffel ran on a Democratic ticket in the New York State Assembly. He had the endorsement of the Republican Party, in the Bronx County 4th District, which was a Socialist district. Schoffel was elected and served in the New York State Assembly in 1922, 1923, 1924, and 1925. He then served as Registrar of Bronx County from 1926 to 1933.
In 1933, there was a vacancy for a Justice in the Municipal Court. Mayor John P. O'Brien appointed Schoffel for this position. Schoffel won an election to a ten-year term later that year, and in 1943 he was re-elected for a second ten-year term in 1953.
In his free time, Schoffel attended services at the Temple Adath Israel Synagogue, and he became a trustee of Sinai Temple in the Bronx. Schoffel also became a member of several other organizations including the Free Sons of Israel, the Bronx County Bar Association, the Freemasons, the Royal Arcanum, and the Elks. Schoffel also joined several societies including Landsmanshaftn, The Louis Fleischmann Benevolent Society and the First Kozower Benevolent Society.
In 1921, Schoffel married Lena Zahn. They had two daughters named Gloria Rita and Majorie Jean. On July 21, 1936, Schoffel’s daughter Gloria was killed on the Bronx River Parkway in a Westchester automobile collision with a truck.
Louis Astor Schoffel died in Ridgefield, Connecticut at the age of 51 from a heart attack while on vacation at a hotel on July 8, 1946. He was buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery.
~Blog by Renee Meyers
