Louis Benjamin Heller

Louis Benjamin Heller (February 10, 1905 – October 30, 1993) was an American lawyer, jurist, and Democratic politician who served three terms as a United States Representative from New York from 1949 to 1954. Over the course of his public career he held legislative office in both the New York State Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives and later served for nearly two decades on the New York City courts and the New York Supreme Court.

Heller was born on February 10, 1905, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, the second of four children of Max and Dora Heller. His parents had emigrated from Romania a few years before the birth of their first child, a daughter named Freida, and settled in the immigrant neighborhoods of New York, where Heller was raised. Growing up in this environment shaped his familiarity with the concerns of working-class and immigrant communities that he would later represent in public office.

Heller pursued legal studies and graduated from Fordham Law School in 1926. After admission to the bar, he entered the practice of law in New York, building the professional foundation that would support his later roles in government and the judiciary. His legal training and early practice prepared him for specialized assignments in public service, particularly in the areas of election law and wartime administration.

In 1936 Heller began a decade of service as a special deputy assistant attorney general for the State of New York, focusing on cases of election fraud, a position he held until 1946. During World War II he also served as an appeal agent with the United States Selective Service from 1941 until 1942, reviewing draft classifications and contributing to the administration of the nation’s conscription system. He entered elective office as a member of the New York State Senate, representing the 7th District in 1943 and 1944, where he gained legislative experience and further established himself in Democratic Party politics.

Heller was elected as a Democrat to the 81st United States Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Representative John J. Delaney. He took his seat in the House of Representatives on February 15, 1949, and was subsequently re-elected to the 82nd and 83rd Congresses. His service in Congress thus extended from 1949 to 1955, although he formally held office from February 15, 1949, until his resignation on July 21, 1954. Serving during a significant period in American history in the early Cold War era, he participated in the legislative process, represented the interests of his New York constituents, and contributed to the work of the House as a member of the Democratic Party.

Heller resigned from Congress in 1954 to accept a judicial appointment as a judge of New York City’s Court of Special Sessions, marking the beginning of a long judicial career. He served on the Special Sessions Court until 1958. In December 1958 he was elected a justice of New York City’s City Court, where he served until August 1966. That year he was elected to the New York Supreme Court, the state’s trial court of general jurisdiction, and he remained on that bench until his retirement in 1977, presiding over a wide range of civil and criminal matters.

After retiring from the judiciary, Heller lived away from public office for more than a decade and a half. He died on October 30, 1993, in Plantation, Florida. He was buried at Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, closing a life that had taken him from the immigrant neighborhoods of Manhattan’s Lower East Side to prominent roles in state and national government and on the New York courts.