In the 1960s, as the House Judiciary Committee fought through negotiations over the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, young attorney Benjamin Louis Zelenko sat at a narrow table in a crowded hearing room, drafting and redrafting language that would help shape landmark legislation. He later told his family how he moved between the committee and the Justice Department, reconciling versions and navigating political resistance. “He could recall every player and every conversation,” his daughter Laura Zelenko remembered. “He felt proud to be part of something that mattered.”
Zelenko, a Washington, D.C., lawyer whose seven-decade career spanned civil rights, workers’ rights and intellectual property, died on Nov. 16 at 92.
His path to that long career began in a close Jewish family in New York. His mother, Hilda, immigrated from Russia as a baby. His father, Michael, trained as a lawyer and worked multiple jobs during the Depression, including teaching and counseling. It was a time when Jewish attorneys struggled to find steady work. Those realities shaped Zelenko’s sense of fairness early on, daughter Carin Zelenko recalled.
He spent his childhood in Forest Hills with his younger brother, Norman. The two worked as ball boys at the West Side Tennis Club during the U.S. Open. In high school, Zelenko won a national writing contest, earning a place in the World Youth Forum. The fellowship took him overseas, where he spoke at London’s Royal Albert Hall. “The trip broadened his worldview and nurtured his interest in public policy,” Laura Zelenko said.
He attended Princeton University on a four-year scholarship. Social life there was difficult for Jewish students, who were often excluded from eating clubs, Carin Zelenko said. Her father was placed in the least prestigious club, a cooperative where members waited tables and washed dishes. It suited him. He built friendships there and became an active alumnus, returning for reunions throughout his life.
After Princeton, he went to Harvard Law School, graduating in 1958. He described the classrooms as the “Paper Chase” era, when professors pushed students to defend every answer. He enjoyed the rigor but understood — based on his father’s experience and the norms of the time — that big city firms were unlikely to hire Jewish graduates, Brian Zelenko said. Government work, his father believed, would give him meaningful opportunities.
Zelenko began his legal career in the U.S. Coast Guard, serving in New York and Washington. He later worked at the Federal Communications Commission, gaining experience inside federal agencies. Those roles prepared him for his most influential chapter: serving as counsel to Rep. Emanuel Celler (D-N.Y.), chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
During the 1960s, the committee handled many of the decade’s consequential debates, from civil rights and voting rights to immigration and gun-control legislation. Zelenko worked closely with the Justice Department as those bills advanced, and Brian Zelenko said his father talked about the intensity of the hearings and the pressure to get the language right.
His father attended the March on Washington in 1963 and described how moved he was by Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech and the feeling of unity in the crowd. In an obituary he wrote for the family, grandson Sasha Urban recalled Zelenko’s words about the hope for “humanity, human feeling and brotherly love.”
After leaving Capitol Hill, Zelenko continued working on issues rooted in fairness and justice. He represented the NFL Players Association on pay, safety and strike matters and taught a sports law course at Catholic University. Laura Zelenko remembered football players arriving at their home on Harley-Davidson motorcycles and how excited she was to get a ride around the block.
One of the significant cases of his career was Hohri v. United States, in which he represented Japanese Americans seeking redress for their wartime incarceration. He argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988. Although the case was remanded to a lower court, Congress soon passed legislation granting survivors $20,000 and issuing a formal apology. He stayed in touch with several families involved, exchanging holiday cards for years.
Zelenko joined the firm Nussbaum & Wald in 1989 and remained with its successor firms well into his late 80s. “He really didn’t have other hobbies,” Brian Zelenko said. “He loved the law and the people he worked with.”
Away from the office, his life centered on family. Zelenko met his wife, Barbara, on a blind date during her visit to Washington from California. They spent evenings talking, dancing and touring the city, beginning what became 64 years of marriage. “He was a caretaker,” she said, recalling how he made her breakfast every morning in their Chevy Chase home. He insisted on driving her to appointments and supporting her in every way.
As a family man, he was consistent and present. He came home for dinner every night when his children were young. He took them to museums, the Smithsonian, theater productions and Washington sports games.
Judaism had a steady role in his home life. He led the family’s Passover Seder each year, reclining on a pillow at the head of the table and hiding the afikoman in inventive places. He enjoyed attending High Holiday services at Washington Hebrew Congregation and the sermons of the influential Rabbi Joshua Haberman.
In his final years, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) honored him with a citation of lifelong service in the Congressional Record, a recognition that meant a great deal to him and his family.
His children said they hope people remember his warmth, humor, storytelling and clarity of purpose. “He knew what his values were and he stuck by them,” Laura Zelenko said. “He always wanted to do work that made a difference.”
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer.
