It is with great sadness that we announce the peaceful passing of Stuart R. Shamberg (1926-2017), 90, on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017.
He was the beloved husband for 44 years of Paula W. Shamberg, who survives him, along with his three children, Steven Shamberg, Jane Saunders and Aaron Shamberg. Stu is also survived by his three stepchildren, Sarah Pember, Tom Phillips and Mike Phillips; nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Stuart excelled in life as a family man, lawyer and person and is so missed by all.
Stuart was born on April 4, 1926, in New Rochelle, N.Y., where he grew up as the son of Herbert and Nita Shamberg. Stu was one of two children to Mr. and Mrs. Shamberg and was predeceased by his brother Douglas. After graduating from New Rochelle High School in 1944, Stuart joined the U.S. Navy and served in World War II. Upon his discharge from the Navy, Stuart attended Cornell University on the G.I. Bill, graduated in 1951 and retuned to Cornell to obtain his law degree in 1954, working his way through college and law school at various jobs. Stu took the New York bar exam in 1954 to the sound of a constant jackhammer outside the examination room. While this distraction upset many of the other applicants, Stu had paid his way through school as a jackhammer operator in the summers and passed the exam with a smile on his face.
Stuart was a prominent land use lawyer in Westchester County and was the founding partner of Shamberg Marwell Hollis Andreycak & Laidlaw, P.C. of Mount Kisco, N.Y. In lamenting Stu's passing, his partner of many years, Dan Hollis said: "Stu was a giant of a man and our profession. He created, and left, a legacy of excellence for our firm which we are all duty bound to pass forward." Stu is known and was respected for many progressive changes and steps forward in land use in Westchester and the metropolitan New York area, among them the 1976 New York Superior Court case, Berenson v. the Town of New Castle. The Berenson case effectively eliminated exclusionary zoning in the State of New York. When not lawyering, Stu was an avid and excellent tennis player and enthusiastic golfer. Most of all, he was a family man of greatness and his spirit will live on within his family members, his many friends and all those at Shamberg Marwell.
A memorial service for Stuart will be held in the near future in Mystic, at a time and date to be shortly announced by the family.
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