In Loving Memory

Seal of the New York State Assembly, rendered in bronze

The Honorable

Anthony J. Genovesi

Member of the New York State Assembly
Thirty-Ninth District · Kings County
1987 – 1998

December 8, 1936  —  August 10, 1998

He used his strength to help those who were not so big and not so strong, and served Brooklyn with vigor, intelligence and determination.

Husband · Father · Neighbor

The Creed He Lived By

“Help people. Help those without a voice. Help those who no one else would have the compassion to assist.”
Entered in the Congressional Record, June 9, 1999

A Life of Service

Brooklyn & the Law

  1. 1936Born in Brooklyn, December 8Graduate of Xavier High School
  2. 1958B.S. in Economics, Saint Peter’s College
  3. 1961LL.B., Fordham University School of LawAdmitted to the New York State Bar in 1962
  4. U.S. ArmyOfficer, Judge Advocate General’s Corps
  5. The CourtsLaw Assistant to the Deputy Administrative Judge, New York City Civil CourtAlso Opinion Clerk, Civil Court of New York County, and Law Secretary, New York City Criminal Court

Canarsie

  1. PracticeAttorney in Canarsie and aide to Assembly Speaker Stanley Fink
  2. The ClubChairman, Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club, 77 Conklin AvenueBuilt the club into one of Brooklyn’s strongest political organizations. His portrait hangs there beside those of Speaker Fink and Meade Esposito.
  3. District LeaderDemocratic District Leader for CanarsieA protégé of Brooklyn Democratic leader Meade Esposito
  4. 1980 · 1984Delegate, Democratic National Convention
  5. 1984Candidate for Brooklyn Democratic County LeaderWith the backing of Mayor Ed Koch and Speaker Stanley Fink
  6. MentorTaught a generation of Brooklyn Democrats the work of campaigningAmong them Frank Seddio, who succeeded him in the Assembly and later led the Brooklyn Democratic Party

Albany

  1. 1986Elected to the Assembly from the 39th DistrictAnnounced his candidacy in June 1986 when Speaker Fink retired, and served from 1987 until his death, through six Legislatures
  2. CommitteesChairman, Committee on Oversight, Analysis & InvestigationAlso served on Education, Judiciary and Corporations, and chaired the Corporate Law Subcommittee
  3. 1994Candidate for Speaker of the Assembly
  4. 1997Opened an investigation into state environmental enforcementWith Environmental Conservation Chairman Richard Brodsky, reviewing how the DEC issued permits, wrote rules and enforced the law
  5. 1997–1998Led the Assembly’s inquiry into New York’s foster care systemAt the request of Children & Families Chairman Roger Green. The 1999 report Losing Our Children is dedicated to him.
  6. 1998Sponsor, Chapter 485 of the Laws of 1998Allowing the City to transfer the historic Canarsie Cemetery without public auction
  7. BillsPassed the Assembly on school technology, special education and small businessFive-year technology plans for every school district; public reporting on students with disabilities exempted from state exams; installment payments for small businesses’ phone service
  8. 1998Died August 10, at 61, while serving in officeLaid to rest at Corashire Cemetery, Monterey, Massachusetts

In the Community

  • President, Bergen Beach Civic Association
  • Member, Community Board 18
  • Jamaica Bay Citizens Committee
  • Canarsie Mental Health Clinic
  • Knights of Columbus
  • Rambam Canarsie Lodge of B’nai B’rith
  • Parishioner, St. Bernard’s Roman Catholic Church, Bergen Beach

Remembered

“A big, strong man reaching out his hand to help a scared, lonely child.”
Dedication, Losing Our Children, New York State Assembly, 1999
“He passionately believed that strong and successful people have a responsibility to use their power to help people who are not so big and not so strong.”
Dedication, Losing Our Children, 1999
“Admired and respected by friend and foe, Anthony ‘Tony’ Genovesi possessed a great passion for life, a keen wit, fine intellect, a tireless work ethic and an uncompromising sense of honesty and fair play.”
Congressional Record, June 9, 1999
“His passion, hard work and good humor will be greatly missed by the Committee and the full Assembly.”
Assemblyman Albert Vann, Chairman, Assembly Committee on Corporations, 1998

His Family

Husband of Joyce. Together they raised five children.

Anthony J. Genovesi Jr.

Attorney · Partner, Abrams Fensterman

A trial and appellate litigator in Brooklyn and law chair of the Kings County Democratic Party. Named a Super Lawyer in business litigation every year since 2021 and to City & State’s Brooklyn Power 100 in 2025. St. John’s University School of Law, J.D. 1988.

Elena Genovesi

Nurse

Carries her father’s creed into the care of patients, helping people at the moments they most need it.

Joseph Genovesi

Executive Managing Director, Savills · New York

A commercial real estate leader with more than thirty years in the field and over seven million square feet of transactions. He founded and led DG Hart Associates, whose team earned the 2001 New York Real Estate Deal of the Year before the firm joined NAI Global. He co-chairs the Xavier Business Council at his father’s high school and supports the Children’s Health Fund and Open Door Family Medical Centers. Brooklyn College, B.A. in Economics.

Hon. Lara J. Genovesi

Associate Justice, Appellate Division, Second Department

Appointed to the Appellate Division in 2021 after being elected a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Kings County, in 2014. In 2026 the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association gave her its Amy Wren Award for excellence in the law and service to the Brooklyn community. Siena College, B.A. 1993; Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, J.D. 1996.

Dr. Mark H. Genovesi

Thoracic & Cardiac Surgeon · Brooklyn

Board certified by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, with a focus on minimally invasive thoracic surgery and thoracic surgical oncology. Clinical Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, caring for patients in Brooklyn. SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, M.D. 1988; surgical residency at Maimonides Medical Center; thoracic surgery fellowship at SUNY Downstate.

“No matter the metric, they always were and always will be the standard by which me and my siblings measure our lives.”
Anthony J. Genovesi Jr., speaking of his parents at his sister’s swearing-in at Brooklyn Borough Hall, 2015, where he presented her the gavel their father had kept in his Assembly office

Where His Name Lives On

St. Francis College · 2003

The Anthony J. Genovesi Center

St. Francis College dedicated a 9,000-square-foot hall in his honor, built above the Daniel Lynch Gymnasium on its Remsen Street campus in Brooklyn Heights. It was home to Terriers volleyball, intramurals, winter commencement and alumni reunions, and it was opened to community and nonprofit groups for their meetings and events.

New York City Department of Education · Bergen Beach

The Hon. Anthony J. Genovesi Environmental Study Center

Dedicated in his memory in the neighborhood he called home, the center teaches New York City schoolchildren about their environment through hands-on lessons in ecology, with greenhouses, a pond habitat, an urban farm and more than two hundred living organisms. Visit the center

Xavier High School · Class of 1954

A Son of Xavier and of Jesuit Education

He was formed by the Jesuits at every stage of his schooling: Xavier High School, Saint Peter’s College and Fordham Law. He remained a devoted supporter of Jesuit education at Xavier, and Xavier inducted him into its Hall of Fame, which honors graduates who have been “truly outstanding in the service of God, their fellow men, their country, or civic community.” His son Joseph carries that tie forward as co-chair of the Xavier Business Council.