Charles Lamont Brieant, Jr. (1923-2008)

Charles Lamont Brieant, Jr. (1923-2008). Chief Judge, United States District Court. After world war two Army Air Corps service on Guam, this Ossining-born son of a beloved local doctor graduated from Columbia College and Columbia Law School. He practiced law in the White Plains firm of Bleakley Platt and served as Ossining Supervisor. In 1971, President Nixon appointed him as a United States District Judge in the Southern District of New York, where he became Chief Judge. He presided over more than 15,000 cases over 36 years, first in New York City and later in White Plains. He oversaw the construction of two courthouses, one of which bears his name. The Village Voice described him “as honest and proper a judge as you could hope to find.” , Known for his sense of humor, Judge Brieant remarked that his Monopoly Man mustache and bow ties were his trademarks: “I guess if I took them off, no one would know me!” His trenchant humor was perhaps best expressed by a portrait hung in his chambers of the former Chief Judge of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals who was convicted and imprisoned for accepting bribes. Brieant told visitors that the painting was there to remind him of the fallibility of the Court of Appeals, which he only half-jokingly referred to as “The Second Circus.” , The judge had many interests, from Hudson River sailing to local history to growing hybrid organic tomatoes from seed. He built his own house and cut his own firewood. As Chief Judge, he annually convened his colleagues for a day at the races at Belmont Park. At the conclusion of his memorial service at a packed Trinity Church, the bugle sound of “Call to Post” was heard, summoning the jockeys to the race. Peals of laughter from the congregation reverberated to the heavens.