Brenner, Jacob A., 1857-1921

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.

Brenner became prominent in Jewish communal and philanthropic activities, serving as president and Hebrew school teacher at Temple Beth-Elohim, a Reform congregation also known as the Eighth Avenue Temple, located on Eighth Avenue and Garfield Place for many years, as well as on the board of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the Federation of Jewish Charities, and as the first president of the Jewish Hospital on Prospect Place. His club memberships included the Euclid Lodge, a Masonic chapter in Kings County, the Royal Arcanum, as well as the Brooklyn, Montauk, and Unity Clubs. Brenner also served as vice-president of the Brooklyn Bar Association, and director of the First National Bank, then located at Fulton Street and Red Hook Lane.

Brenner married Louise Blumenau (ca. 1860-1902), the daughter of prominent Brooklyn real estate developer Levi Blumenau, on June 27, 1883. The couple had two sons, Arthur and Mortimer, and four daughters, Rose, Rica, Selma, and Caroline. The family resided at 252 Carroll Street in the present-day Brooklyn neighborhood of Carroll Gardens. Both Arthur and Mortimer Brenner became prominent lawyers and Republican Party members in Brooklyn. Rose Brenner became a well-known activist in Brooklyn for her work during World War I as president of the National Council of Jewish Women.

A quick succession of deaths within a period of four years marked the Brenner family: Simon Brenner (September 7, 1898), Caroline Brenner (September 22, 1900), and Louise Brenner (February 21, 1902). Jacob Brenner died on October 17, 1921 of heart disease while giving a speech at Temple Beth-Elohim. He is buried at Mount Neboh Cemetery in the Cypress Hills neighborhood of Brooklyn.

From the guide to the Jacob Brenner papers, Bulk, 1896-1902, 1884-1921, (Brooklyn Historical Society)