Otto A. Rosalsky

He was born and raised up in the Lower East Side on Allen Street, attended public school while taking private Hebrew lessons and studying in the Cooper Institute, and organizing and leading the Argosy Literary Society while still young.

His organization skills was recognized by Police Commissioner Murphy, who recommended him as a clerk to William Andrew Sutherland during the Lexow Committee.

[4] In 1905, Governor Frank W. Higgins appointed Rosalsky to fill a vacancy in the Court of General Sessions.

He also introduced a number of reforms and innovations, like the probation system in criminal courts and the acceptance of fingerprints as evidence for identification.

His concept of premeditation as something that could happen almost simultaneously with the deed instead of requiring a lapse of time became accepted precedent in criminal law all over the country.

[7] Rosalsky died in Mount Sinai Hospital on May 11, 1936, three days after undergoing an operation for a minor ailment.

[8] A thousand people and scores of city and state political leaders attended his funeral in the Jewish Center, including Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, Court of Appeals Judge Irving Lehman, Samuel Seabury, John F. Curry, Felix Warburg, Supreme Court Justice Ferdinand Pecora, former Mayor James J. Walker, Samuel S. Koenig, General Sessions Judge Morris Koenig, Kenneth F. Simpson, Appellate Court Justice Francis W. Martin, Aldermanic President Timothy J. Sullivan, Supreme Court Justice Bernard L. Shientag, James W. Gerard, George Gordon Battle, Borough President Samuel Levy, Special Sessions Court Chief Justice Frederic Kernochan, Albert Ottinger, General Sessions Judge James G. Wallace, Supreme Court Justice Julius Miller, Nathan Burkan, James J. Hines, and George Z. Medalie.