We have received the sad news of the passing of Professor Irene Merker Rosenberg, Royce R. Till Professor Emerita of Law at the University of Houston Law Center, on November 17, 2010.
She was born in the Bronx, New York on June 1, 1939 and was educated at The City College of New York, where she earned a B.A. in 1961. She also earned a LL.B., from New York University School of Law in 1964. At NYU she was a Florence Allen Scholar and an editor of Law Review. There she met Professor Yale L. Rosenberg her colleague, collaborator, and first husband to whom she was happily married for 38 years until his death in 2002. Irene Merker Rosenberg was a compassionate, courageous, and accomplished woman, who contributed much to her community, to the world of scholarship, to the students she taught, and to the Law Center she graced.
Upon attaining her law degree, Professor Rosenberg spent two years with the Department of Health, Education & Welfare, Office of the General Counsel, Washington D.C. as a staff attorney. In 1967 she joined the Juvenile Rights Division of the Legal Aid Society of New York. She was the attorney in charge of the Bronx office and responsible for the training and supervision of 60 attorneys. In this capacity she developed the first training manual for juvenile attorneys, which with very few modifications is still being used today. She joined the University of Houston faculty in 1974, teaching generations of students Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, Criminal Law, Juvenile Law, Legal Analysis, and a Juvenile Justice Clinic.
A distinguished scholar, Irene Rosenberg was an expert in juvenile justice, children’s law, and constitutional law. With Yale as a co-author, she wrote many important pieces on criminal law, Jewish law and the comparison of secular and religious law.
From here.
May peace be upon her and all who mourn her passing.
-Bridget Crawford
