No Ordinary Lawyer July 19, 2008
Posted by admin in : Ira, Testimonials , comments closedSara Lustigman
New York, NY
I first met Ira in his office on Broadway in the early ’90s when I wanted to ask for his help in obtaining a green card. After explaining my situation, Ira gave me a very careful and professional explanation of how we would go about applying for it. As I got ready to leave, Ira stepped around his desk and gave me a big hug, letting me know everything would be all right.
“This is no ordinary New York City lawyer,” I thought to myself. My suspicion that I was dealing with a unique individual was confirmed when I asked Ira about his payment policy. Being both new in the City and not making very much money, I needed to know how much cash I would have to provide up front. However, when asked, Ira simply said, “You don’t pay anything until I start meeting my milestones at every stage of the green card process.” “Wow!” I thought, “The stereotypes about avaricious lawyers seeking billable hours sure don’t apply here.”
Every time I had a subsequent appointment with Ira, I was greeted with a big hug. Grateful as I was for the reasonableness of Ira’s fee schedule, I wasn’t fully sure what those hugs meant. But it’s a testimony to Ira’s sincerity and humaneness that I soon came to cherish them. Visits to Ira, a warm and caring human being, took me away from the pressures of my lab; in those days they were the highlight of my week. I soon became fast friends with Ira and Ruth, who sometimes tried to fix me up with eligible bachelors! Although the matchmaking didn’t quite work, after Joel and I married, we continued to get together with Ira and Ruth periodically. It seemed like they always knew the most interesting restaurants and we always had the most stimulating conversations and discussions with them.
It also became apparent that the help that Ira provided to me was far from an isolated case. Not only did he assist several of my friends and colleagues from the New York Blood Center with their immigration needs, it was clear that Ira had helped thousands of people in a similar way, many of them far more disadvantaged than my band of young scientists. Over time, we learned just how much Ira had worked to assist persecuted individuals from all over the world in obtaining asylum. You could always count on him to stand up to the various hysterias of the moment which always seem to target the most vulnerable people in society.
My husband and I are extremely proud and fortunate to have known Ira and Ruth and be considered their friends. We just hope that in a small way we can carry on with their legacy and their spirit.
Ruthie was the prettiest little girl you ever saw July 19, 2008
Posted by admin in : Ruth, Testimonials , comments closedBea Kelvin, New York, NY
I knew Ruthie from the time she was four years old, when she was the prettiest little girl you ever saw. Her mother was my stepfather’s cousin and a very good friend of my mother’s — in fact, my mother sewed a dress for Ruthie’s first date, when she was 16.
We remained close even when she was out of the country, and when she came back she stayed in my apartment until she found a place of her own. From then on, we were close until she died.
Ruth and Ira had an interesting and very close relationship for all the years they were together, and they made each other very happy. I miss them terribly and will until I depart this earth.
Truly Beautiful and Loving Folks July 19, 2008
Posted by admin in : Ira, Ruth, Testimonials , comments closedYuka Hirata and Mark Blackshear
Brooklyn, NY
Ira and Ruth were indeed like my and my wife Yuka’s surrogate grandparents. They always treated us kindly. We remember and appreciate the few times we met them for lunch or dinner, as well as the hospitality extended to us at their home. They witnessed our wedding ceremony in December of 2002, and we considered it a great honor.
Ruth was a photography student, and I loved the glee she expressed showing off a portrait of Ira she had taken by a lake at a country retreat. She and Ira were rather proud of it. I totally enjoyed it when Ira would start telling some of his stories; the tales regarding his legal exploits were priceless. I regret the fact that I can no longer enjoy his oral history lessons and his gems of enlightenment.
We remember Ruth and Ira as truly beautiful and loving folks. Yuka and I shared a genuine fondness for them. They made us feel like they felt the same for us — by the way they always smiled and often laughed when we were with them.
Ira was a true mentor July 19, 2008
Posted by admin in : Ira, Testimonials , comments closedSue Susman, New York, NY
Dear Ruth [Gollobin-Basta],
Ira was a true mentor to me — encouraging me to go into the field of immigration law, and requiring — as a condition of his tutoring me — that I learn to eat fish and tofu at a particular Chinese restaurant every Tuesday evening. I learned from him legally, politically, culinarily, and otherwise. I may still have his book on the Committee for Protection of the Foreign Born.
You may have heard the tale that he told. While he was having dinner with me each Tuesday evening for many months, your mother Esther was telling him she had met a terrific young man at the U.S.-China People’s Friendship Association — my husband Sekhar; so we “double-dated” a few times for dinner. In the years after he married Ruth, he seemed content with her. We met them for dinner once or twice as well and sat next to them at Guild dinners.
I was sorry to hear of Ruth’s death, but was devastated to hear of Ira’s. I had somehow assumed that with all of his running, swimming, and healthy diet, he would live forever. You have had a wonderful father, mother, and stepmother for a wonderfully long time. I hope Ira left this world peacefully.
Concrete and Precise in His Thinking July 19, 2008
Posted by admin in : Ira, Testimonials , comments closedMahmoud Sayratiezadeh
Brooklyn, NY
Dear Ruth [Gollobin-Basta],
Forgive me for writing late to you to extend my sympathies. Nothing I could say could soothe your loss. Your father was a remarkable human being. He was knowledgeable and competent about his profession, helpful to people who required his help, and he did it with understanding, sympathy, and wit. His sense of humor reflected his humanity and also his great intellect. He knew much of world history, philosophy, and science. He was concrete, precise in his thinking, and yet dialectical as he explained his thoughts. Ira was cultured and respected and enjoyed all cultures. And all peoples. He was one of the few people one meets in a lifetime whom one cherishes having known. Please accept my condolences for this great loss.
Uncle Ira July 19, 2008
Posted by admin in : Ira, Testimonials , comments closedMichael Lipschutz, Radnor, PA
We had some wonderful interactions with Uncle Ira and his family over the years, but unfortunately fewer than we would have liked because we lived in Indiana for 43 years (plus Bern, Switzerland, and Tel Aviv) until May of this year. One of the most recent, and therefore the freshest in our recollection, occurred about two years ago, when he and Ruth visited us for almost a week in Indiana. The purpose of the trip was to go to Springfield, Illinois, to visit the new Lincoln Museum and Library, and see other sites there, associated with Abraham Lincoln.
As most of you may know, Ira was particularly passionate about Lincoln and his deeds. To be able to show Ira and Ruth the house and neighborhood where Lincoln lived, his law office, and his personal possessions was the greatest of privileges. It was fascinating and truly moving to hear Ira describe Lincoln’s actions and decisions, as we were surrounded by Lincoln’s physical and spiritual possessions.
When my wife Linda photographed Ira beside Lincoln’s life-sized statue, we almost felt that the two were meeting. And that would have been a meeting of two equally great minds.
My Memory of Ira and Ruth Gollobin July 19, 2008
Posted by admin in : Ira, Ruth, Testimonials , comments closedDrs. Amir and Halel Ansari and Family
Pleasantville, NY
Ira was my “American Dad.” He was my immigration lawyer when I was in residency at Methodist Hospital in 1994. We soon became close friends. Ira and Ruth came to my wedding in 1998. We visited each other at my Westchester home or in the city a few times a year. When my father came to America, I introduced Ira to my father as, “my Dad in America.” He was a great and caring man. Ira went beyond what he needed to do to help others. For instance, it was in the middle of the summer on a hot and humid day. I informed him that I needed to go to the INS to give them a copy of my documents. Despite knowing that this was a simple issue, he left his office practice and walked with me to the INS! He wanted to be sure the job was done. I will always remember his compassion.
Ruth was an exceptionally knowledgeable and wonderful person. However, the one thing I will never forget is how she interacted with my children. When Ruth was surrounded by children she was passionate, sensitive, patient, kind, and a good teacher.
We feel that we were lucky and honored to know these two wonderful individuals.
Highlights of My Uncle Ira July 19, 2008
Posted by admin in : Ira, Testimonials , comments closedLinda Lowenthal Lipschutz, Radnor, PA
“Highlights” because he was truly one of the two most radiant stars in my personal universe. The other is my husband, Mike, who has a planet, 2641 Lipschutz, named for him.
From My Childhood: My first recollection of my Uncle Ira was in his army uniform, in 1942, when he came home after being drafted. His hugs for me were huge, and they have been bear hugs ever since. Uncle Ira was my mother Beatrice’s (Basha’s) baby brother. She adored him — for his sweetness and for his intellect. When Ira and Ruth married, on June 11, 1994, it was Bea who walked Ira down the aisle to join his bride.
Bringing Up Three Sons in Indiana: Middle-school boys from the Midwest, visiting their Cousin Ruthie alone in the BIG city: this was ENORMOUS. As a parent, I knew that my Uncle Ira and Aunt Esther had raised two incredible daughters.
More Recently: When our oldest son, Josh, married Lisa Hines, in San Francisco, in 2000, Ira and Ruth came all the way across the country to be with us. In June of last year, they came to Indiana for a slew of family celebrations, including Ira’s ninety-sixth birthday. Ira told me at that time that he was taking his role as “family patriarch very seriously.” Mark, our second son, his wife Stephanie, and their twin children, Jackie and Sara, have come from San Diego, CA, to be here today because Uncle Ira was so important to them. Jonathan, our youngest son, and his wife have a new baby, or they would be here also. Jonathan loved Uncle Ira very much, too. As an audiologist, he was able to help Ira with his hearing aids.
The National Lawyers Guild NYC Chapter, 68th Anniversary Dinner, Honoring Ira Gollobin (and Saluting the Chapter’s Immigration Lawyers and Advocates), 2005: With perhaps, and I’m guessing, 500 people in attendance, including many in our family, it was a culmination of my Uncle Ira’s lifetime of brilliant legal work on behalf of immigrants, perhaps the most vulnerable sector of our American melting pot. I videotaped Ira’s entire keynote address to the Guild and guests. It was a magnificent address in which he presented his philosophical views of civil liberties, and of how “basic human values [tie in with] cherished national traditions.” Ira’s daughter, Ruth, has the video tape, and would gladly lend it for viewing.
Uncle Ira was the last of my parents’ generation: for me, an extraordinary and profoundly good group of human beings.
Ira Changed the Direction of My Life July 19, 2008
Posted by admin in : Ira, Testimonials , comments closedRulx Jean-Bart
Miami, FL
Dear Ruth [Gollobin-Basta]:
I can definitely say that my encounter with your father changed the direction of my life. I was a young man who had just finished grad school when I met your father in 1976. If I am in Florida today it is partly due to your father. I can still visualize that life-changing day, a late afternoon/early evening meeting with Ira and Father Adrien in a restaurant somewhere in Manhattan (maybe in Times Square). I think Ira was a “usual” there. That evening, they made me a scary offer that I could not refuse. I was asked to go to Miami to help the burgeoning Haitian refugees’ movement. My task, if I should accept, was to assist in organizing the Haitian refugees so they might play a leadership role in their own struggle. I was also asked to help organize support groups for the Haitian refugees and to assist the Haitian Refugee Center in becoming administratively and fiscally more responsible.
I knew nothing of Miami and I had just graduated from school. However, your father’s enthusiasm, passion, and commitment to the success of the cause made my decision easier. Through him I realized that I was becoming part of a movement that would protect, support, and guide me. That is why I left the comfort of my home to go to Miami with only two or three contact names and a lot of apprehension.
Your father, Ira, helped build a great movement that benefited millions of people and at least one country. But less than a thousand of those who benefited knew what he did! Ira and Father Adrien, on behalf of the Haitian refugees, put together a dream team of non-Haitians that had Ira Kurzban, Sue Sullivan, Betty Wigs, Mike Hooper, Rick Swartz, Peter Schey, and many others that helped with the legal and political aspects of the struggle. He did all that without being in the limelight. The interesting thing about your father is the fact that he sought causes, but never the spotlight as so many do. He was the invisible force, the strength behind many struggles. He chose to be in the background, in the shadow of those he supported, side by side, never in front, until the final victory. He was one of the backbones of the movement. Like an earthquake, your father could be felt thousand of miles from his epicenter (his office), although only those next to him could see him. Your father’s ability to build and support causes passionately and diligently without overpowering them made him a great and admired man.
I hope I shed some lights for you on your father’s past.
Lawyer’s Hero, Ladies’ Man July 19, 2008
Posted by admin in : Ira, Testimonials , comments closedJanet Higbie, Chelsea, NY
I came to know Ira and Ruth fairly recently, when I was in my last year at New York Law School, and he was a young man of 93. I was researching Kong Hai Chew v. Colding, one of Ira’s greatest cases, and I was fascinated to listen as he talked for hours about his life and work. One line in particular has stayed with me from those talks.
Ira, like others in the American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born and the Lawyers Guild, represented clients called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in Washington and its New York State counterpart in the 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s. There was a continuing debate among the lawyers about how to handle their clients’ predicament: If they testified that they had done nothing wrong, they would be jailed for perjury; if they refused to answer certain questions, they would be found in contempt; if they invoked the Fifth Amendment, they sounded like criminals.
Ira and some of his allies came up with a strategy that essentially turned the tables. Since the committee was ignoring the principle of relevance, they would too. At mock hearings, they prepared their clients to confront the committee members with questions about their voting records, lectures on the Constitution, and free-association riffs on any question they were asked. One client, asked to state his name for the record, answered, “My mother named me Patrick, because St. Patrick chased the snakes out of Ireland!” This would enrage the committee, and Ira would be asked to control his client; he would just shrug and try not to laugh. Eventually, the client would claim the Fifth, but not without lecturing the committee on its purpose, to protect people from false accusations.
Ira summarized the HUAC-baiting strategy with a wry rhetorical question. “It’s a game of cat-and-mouse,” he said, wagging his finger. “But who is the cat and who is the mouse?” I love that line, and find inspiration in it, because it encapsulates the determination, resourcefulness, and humor that carried him through dark times.
My other favorite memory is more recent. When Ruth fell ill, Ira, then 96, threw himself into caring for her, approaching the problem like a legal case — reviewing the options, researching the medical aspects, conferring with experts, and hiring a top-notch lieutenant, Wendy Clarke. Still, he found the energy to keep up his reputation as a ladies’ man, though in actual practice that involved nothing more than heavy-duty flirting and big hugs to friends of any gender. One day this January, I was at St. Vincent’s, where a small crowd, including Jocelyn McCalla, the long-time Haitian rights advocate, had gathered to try to help Ira help Ruth, who was barely conscious. After a half-hour, I headed down the hall with Jocelyn to go out for a bite to eat and some computer advice. Ira, feigning envy, waved his hands in the air and called after us, “Oh, to be 90 again!”