Morgenthau, iconic ex-Manhattan district attorney, has died
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau, who spent more than three decades jailing criminals from mob kingpins and drug-dealing killers to a tax-dodging Harvard dean, died Sunday. He was 99, just 10 days short of his 100th birthday.
His successor and current District Attorney Cy Vance confirmed his death in a statement Monday. Morgenthau died at Manhattan's Lenox Hill Hospital after a short illness, his wife Lucinda Franks told The New York Times.
Morgenthau, who served as U.S. Attorney for New York's southern district during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, returned to law enforcement as Manhattan's top state prosecutor in 1974 and didn't leave for 35 years, with his office handling around 100,000 criminal cases yearly.
In 2005, at age 86, Morgenthau was elected for the eighth and last time, turning back a challenge from Leslie Crocker Snyder, a popular former state judge. Snyder tried without success to turn Morgenthau's age and lengthy tenure into campaign issues.
Morgenthau left office in 2009, throwing his support to his eventual successor, Vance.
At the time, he told The Associated Press he was retiring because "I looked at my birth certificate, and I said, 'It's about time.'"
In his position at the forefront of Manhattan's legal and political scene, Morgenthau cultivated a dignified, above-the-fray presence, and was widely acknowledged by allies and foes alike as effective, nonpartisan and incorruptible.
From that emerged a national reputation that extended beyond the courthouse. Tall and distinguished in appearance, he was the model for the avuncular character of prosecutor Adam Schiff, played by actor Steven Hill on the long-running television series, "Law & Order."
Show creator Dick Wolf called Morgenthau "the...