Marilyn Richter

Marilyn was the ultimate New Yorker, quick-witted with a generous spirit. She grew up in Queens and lived most of her adult life on the Upper West Side. She left the city only for her undergraduate studies at Tufts University in Boston, a junior year abroad in London, and trips with family and friends throughout her life to experience different corners of the country and the world.

She loved dance performances, musicals, dramas, and movies, and she approached each with the same enthusiasm she brought to everything she cared about. She collected glass paperweights, sought out new restaurants, and was an avid reader of fiction and nonfiction, always eager to understand the world more deeply.

After graduating from New York University Law School, Marilyn joined the New York City Law Department in 1978 and, in 1986, became Deputy Chief of the General Litigation Division, a position she held for the remainder of her career. She was utterly dedicated to the professional development and advancement of the hundreds of lawyers she supervised and mentored over the years. By example and patient guidance, she set the highest professional bar for junior lawyers and provided the training and encouragement to help them reach it.

In her earlier years at the Law Department, Marilyn’s expertise in labor and employment law placed her at the helm of critically important litigation arising from the fiscal crises of the 1980s and 1990s. More recently, the City turned to her during the Covid crisis to help guide the Department of Education through legal challenges relating to the shutdown and reopening of the City’s schools. Never claiming the limelight, Marilyn quietly excelled over her long career as a lawyer’s lawyer, dedicated to the City she loved.

Marilyn will be deeply missed. She is survived by her sister, cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends, who remember her with great affection.