Brenner, Rose

The Honorable Jacob A. Brenner, born on April 8, 1857 to Simon Brenner (1820-1898), an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, and Caroline Alexander (1830-1900), resided and worked in Brooklyn and Amityville, N.Y. his entire life. The Brenner family's financial circumstances prohibited Brenner from attending college after graduating at the age of 14 from Public School #27, also known as the Agnes Y. Humphrey School, on Nelson Street in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn. Brenner instead entered the Manhattan law offices of Smith, Woodward & Buckley in 1871 and "read" law under General Jesse S. Smith, the firm's senior partner and former Surrogate of Brooklyn. Brenner passed the bar exam in 1879 and soon formed a partnership with William J. G. Bearns. They opened their own law offices on Court Street under the name of Bearns & Brenner, specializing in civil and real estate law, on February 1, 1891.

Brenner had a highly successful career within the Kings County judicial and political systems. Mayor Charles A. Schieren (1842-1915) appointed Brenner counsel to the Brooklyn Police and Excise Board in 1893. He resigned this post when elected to the bench in 1897. Elected Kings County Commissioner of Jurors in 1902, Brenner held the position until his death in 1921, and the Brooklyn Police and Excise Board reappointed Brenner as counsel in 1911. Brenner became very active in Brooklyn politics beginning in the late 1880s. He served as the Republican leader of the Tenth Ward in South Brooklyn, an area bounded by Bergen Street, Fourth Avenue, First Street, the Gowanus Canal, Second Avenue, Fifth Street, Fourth Place, and Court Street. Brenner held the position of chairman of the Republican Executive Committee of New York State from 1897 on and served through the terms of New York State Lieutenant Governor Timothy L. Woodruff (c.1858-1913) and United States Senator Chauncey M. Depew (1834-1928), both of whom became close personal friends. The New York State Executive Committee of the Republican Party named Brenner as a state delegate to the Republican National Convention from 1904-1916 as well as a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention in 1915.

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