Justice Ernst Hey Rosenberger

Justice Ernst Hey Rosenberger, born August 31, 1931, passed away peacefully at age 94 in Lenox, Massachusetts on August 30, 2026. He is survived by his wife of 49 years Judith Brailey Rosenberger and his daughter Anne Elizabeth Rosenberger; he was predeceased on June 16, 2026 by his son John Brailey Rosenberger. He will be buried in the West Stockbridge Town Cemetery on MA Route 41, next to his son, at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 1, 2026.

Justice Rosenberger fled Nazi Germany for New York City in 1935 with his parents, Edith Heyman Rosenberger and Ferdinand Rosenberger, his sister Lotte Rosenberger Kunstler, and his paternal aunt Selma Rosenberger Levy. He is survived by descendants of Selma Levy and his nieces Karin Kunstler and Jane Drazek and their children.

In his remarkable life, he ascended the New York City public school system and graduated from The New York Law School. Prior to a distinguished career on the bench, he was active in the civil rights movement defending the “Freedom Riders” in Mississippi.

In his legal career, Justice Rosenberger ascended to the role of Justice in the Appellate Division First Department of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, from which he retired to the law firm of Stroock, Stroock and Lavan. He was a veteran of the United States Army during the Korean War. Justice Rosenberger founded a division of the Inns of Court in Manhattan, where he had many lifelong friends.

Along with his adoring family, he will long be remembered with respect and appreciation by those who knew him well in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts and in New York City.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Finnerty & Stevens Funeral Home in Great Barrington, Massachusetts