Samuel B. Finklestein Collection

Samuel Barr Finklestein (1894-1982) was born in Newark, the eldest of three sons of Herman Finklestein and Rose Lehrhof Finklestein. Herman was a Romanian immigrant who worked as a butcher, and Rose an immigrant from Austria-Hungary.

Samuel attended Drake Business College and graduated in 1918 from the New Jersey Law School. By 1917 he was working as an identification clerk for the Newark Police Department and soon rose to the positions of Secretary to the Police Commission (1918-1933) and then Administrative Clerk at the Department of Public Safety (Nov 1933-1954). He helped take testimony from witnesses (including family members and servants) after aviator Charles Lindbergh's baby son was kidnapped from his home in Hunterdon County in 1932. The collection includes a photo of Finklestein and others taken in the Lindbergh home during this time. Finklestein was an admirer of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. He visited Hoover at FBI headquarters in Washington and was among those who welcomed Hoover to Newark for the opening of the city’s new Police and Fire Academy in October 1936. The collection contains a number of photos documenting that occasion.

In 1954, Finklestein was appointed by Mayor Carlin to the prestigious position of Personnel Director for the City of Newark, a job he held until the late 1960s. He played a role in instituting many new programs in the police department and sat on committees that set salary levels and title reclassifications in the post-war years. He helped to develop a manual for city employees and heard cases of complaints about job titles and related issues. With City Clerk Harry Reichenstein he drafted a loyalty oath for City employees in 1955, in the wake of HUAC hearings in Newark. Three teachers who refused to answer the City’s loyalty questionnaire or take the oath were dismissed.

As an adjunct to his professional life, Finklestein was involved in many civic and Jewish communal groups. A member of Weequahic Oriental Lodge 51 of the Masons and Salaam Temple, Shriners, he was also a founder of the Order of the Golden Chain (Camp and Charity Foundation), a member of the Shomrim Society of Jewish law enforcement personnel, president of the Newark Optimist Club (1939), president of the Newark’s Civic Clubs Council (1942), and president of the Lambskin Society, a Masonic group made up of members who are government employees. He was active in the Labor Zionist Alliance of Essex County (serving as president of the Polevski Chapter from 1962), as was his wife, Hattie. For more than a decade, from 1954, he chaired the Government Employees Division of the Israel Bonds campaigns of the United Jewish Appeal. He was a Trustee of the Jewish Community Council of Essex County and a member of the Board of the Welfare Federation of Newark in the mid-1960s.

By 1920, Samuel had married Hattie Klein, daughter of Newark butcher Julius Klein (1849-1917). The couple had twin daughters, Frieda, who married Robert Feller, and Julienne, who married Newark photographer George Winarsky (aka George Van). Hattie Finklestein served on the Arts Committee of the Newark YW-YMHA and was involved in other civic groups. She died in 1956. In the following year, Samuel married Edna Klein Lowitz, who had one daughter, Silvia Milberg. Edna Finklestein died in 1980. During World War II, while son-in-law Robert M. Feller was serving overseas, a “Thunderbolt” in the 11th Armored Division, daughter Frieda moved back into the family home at 27 Pomona Ave. and worked as a translator for the War Department in New York City. Daughter Julienne was married to George Winarsky (of Van News Photos, 43 William St.). They had 2 sons, Norman and Ira, and a daughter, Babette. The Winarskys lived at 245 Pomona Ave. George, who was member, like his father-in-law, of Salaam Temple, died suddenly on March 2, 1964.

Samuel Finklestein died on July 11, 1982 at the Clara Maass Hospital. He is buried in the Congregation B'nai Jeshurun Cemetery in Elizabeth. The collection includes some material on Samuel’s younger brother, attorney and real estate broker Louis A. Finklestein (d. Apr 2, 1965). He served in World War I and graduated from the New Jersey Law School in 1923. Louis, who was active in Newark politics, died suddenly, aged 67. Rabbi Ely Pilchik of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun conducted his funeral.