Though he was a part of the Milwaukee community for only about seven years before his death, Howard B. Eisenberg, dean of Marquette University’s law school, made a big impact on the academic, Jewish and public arenas.
“That was the case wherever he lived,” longtime friend Harvey Bock told The Chronicle at Eisenberg’s funeral at Temple Menorah last week. “Howard was a wonderful guy. You always knew when Howard entered a room because you couldn’t help feel his physical and intellectual presence at all times.”
The Bocks and the Eisenbergs became friends in Madison, where Bock was serving his medical residency and Eisenberg was head of the public defenders office. “We stayed in touch over the years, and were just thrilled when they came to Milwaukee,” Bock said.
Eisenberg was nationally recognized as a defender of the poor and indigent and for his continuing pro bono legal work representing prisoners and criminals.
Despite his hectic schedule, Eisenberg made time to study Jewish texts with Rabbi Akiva Freilich. About a year-and-a-half ago, he helped Freilich create the Ohr HaTorah-Jewish Heritage Center, of which Eisenberg was president.
Raised in a kosher home with strong Jewish values, Eisenberg told The Chronicle in 1999 that although he was working for a Jesuit institution, he was struck by the similarity of the core messages in Christianity and Judaism. “Christian values have their beginning in Jewish values and everyone here [at Marquette] acknowledges that.”
Since the announcement of his death, numerous testimonials have described his commitment to his students, clients and family — and the Chicago Cubs. Some said “his heart was so big, it finally broke.”
‘ Do well, do good’
Eisenberg was also known for his sense of humor, and several speakers at his funeral referred to a speech he gave in 1999 to a conference for faculty and alumni of MU’s business and law schools entitled “What’s A Nice Jewish Boy Like Me Doing in a Place Like This?”
He wrote, “Twenty-five years ago if you had asked me whether it was more likely that in 1999 I would be managing the Chicago Cubs, sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court or serving as dean of the Marquette University Law School, I would have said without hesitation that … there was absolutely no possibility that I would ever be the dean at Marquette. And yet … I find myself the Jewish dean of that Catholic and Jesuit law school just down the street. It is really true that God works in mysterious ways….”
In a eulogy at the funeral, MU president Fr. Robert Wild said, “It was amazing how [Eisenberg] was able to write about how Jesuit values relate to the Marquette law school. He truly made us a better university. He wanted to transform students, not just educate them — to make them better human beings. He was a great dean and a great human being.”
Janine Geske, former Supreme Court justice and MU law professor, said, “He was a champion for justice, the underprivileged and the disabled, and an ally of the poor. He was ‘our’ Howard, for he belonged to all of us…. [H]e believed faith transcended to all persons — Jews, Christians, Muslims and others — and that we will all advance God’s work. If he were here today, he’d say, ‘Stop talking about me. Do well, do good.’”
Others noted his lifelong devotion to the Chicago Cubs — some compared them to his downtrodden clients — and Geske said that the Cubs beat the Brewers June 5 “maybe because Howard cheered them on.”
He also loved Dixieland music. In keeping with his instructions “not to mourn him” but rather to make family and friends feel “uplifted,” the more than 500 people at the funeral listened to “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
Menorah spiritual leader Rabbi Isaac Lerer said, “The gates of heaven are open and a saint is marching in.”
Eisenberg died June 4 of complications of a heart attack he suffered May 23. A Chicago native, he earned his law degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Highlights of his career included service as chief state public defender in Wisconsin; executive director of the National Aid and Defender Association in Washington, D.C.; and dean of the University of Arkansas law school.
He was named dean of the Marquette law school in 1995, the first non-Catholic to hold the position. He recently had been appointed chair of a commission to advise the Archbishop of Milwaukee on issues relating to sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Church.
Eisenberg is survived by his wife Phyllis (nee Borenstein), a native of Madison; children Nathan, Adam and Leah; his parents, Margie and Dr. Herman Eisenberg; a brother, Jerry (Irene) Eisenberg; and a sister, Miriam Eisenberg.
Interment was in Madison. The family requested memorials to the MU Law School in honor of his commitment to pro bono legal work.
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