Meet Your Board Member: Marvin Rosenberg

Board Member Marvin Rosenberg is an attorney who specialized in coop and condo law and even spent time working for the Judge Advocate Generals (JAG) of the United States Air Force.
Born and raised in Queens, Rosenberg’s father was also an attorney. Rosenberg went to Duke University for law school, where he was in the ROTC program.
“I was an ROTC graduate and I had a military specialty that was unlike anything in JAG, but once they had known I had gone to law school they took me into JAG,” Rosenberg said.
Rosenberg spent two years on active duty with JAG, handling mostly criminal cases and spending time in offices in South Carolina and New York. He also spent six years on reserve duty.
After finishing in the service, Rosenberg spent two years working with a firm in Monticello, New York. However, when his father began ill, he asked Rosenberg to come back to Queens to practice at his firm.
Rosenberg’s father specialized in real estate, representing many builders and developers. However, when Rosenberg came he became to bring in a new clientele as well.
“Later on I began to develop a clientele in Jackson Heights area, which has the oldest coops in the United States,” Rosenberg said. “I began to represent quite a few of those and the practice grew in that direction.”
Although Rosenberg retired in 2000, he remains active with the Volunteer Lawyers Project in Hempstead, advising on issues ranging from domestic relations to credit problems. He was previously recognized by the organization as the Pro Bono Attorney of the Month.
Rosenberg moved to North Shore Towers seven years ago with his wife Lois, who passed away four and a half years ago. It was around the time of her passing that former Board President Ira Rubin approached Rosenberg and asked if he would consider running for the Board.
For the first three years of his Board service, Rosenberg chaired the Screening Committee. He now heads the Legal Committee and Publicity and Marketing Committee.
“As the publicity and marketing chair, we’re embarking on a very bold program this year to try and attract diverse groups to the coop,” Rosenberg said, noting that the 12-member committee has very professional and knowledgeable individuals on it.
As part of the committee’s work, they are setting up a luncheon program to bring in New York City area realtors in order to give them an “understanding [of] how magnificent our facilities are” so that the realtors can in turn share the information with their customers.
Rosenberg also said that committee member Larry Leichman has provided the committee with a study of groups of target groups that they hope to use to focus on particular areas and professions.
In his role as the chair of the Legal Committee, the Towers in-house counsel and special counsel consult Rosenberg. He was involved in rewriting the North Shore Towers election laws, which first went into effect last summer, and proposed a recently passed rule that requires all fees that need to be paid to any professionals to be submitted to the treasurer, Mort Gitter.
Rosenberg said that the most rewarding part of serving on the Board, particularly with the current members, is being associated with a group that is efficient, energetic, and dedicated.
“They’re bright and they have a vision and we have an excellent leader in Bob Ricken,” Rosenberg said.
Rosenberg has three children and six grandchildren. He is a golfer and a self-described movie buff.