Judge Frank Torres remembered as pioneer
BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
Judge Frank Torres’ impact
and legacy transcended
his 14-year stay on the New
York Supreme Court bench.
For many, Torres, who
passed away at age 93 due to
complications from pneumonia
on Aug. 19, was a pioneer
and trailblazer who opened
doors for Hispanic representation
in New York’s judicial
scene.
Torres, a Bronx native,
served in the criminal court
as an acting Supreme Court
justice and was elected to the
state Supreme Court in 1987
and served on the bench until
2001.
“He had a vision that expanded
far beyond the courts,
inspiring young people to enter
the legal profession and
working in our community
generally for the betterment
of all,” said retired Associate
Justice of the Court of Appeals
Carmen Ciparick, who
c0-founded the Latino Judges
Association with Torres.
“He was a driving force
in establishing what is now
known as the Latino Judges
Association bringing together
Latino judges and
promoting our advancement
within the judicial system
while at the same time creating
a pipeline for our Latino
students through mentoring,
internship opportunities, and
even scholarships.”
Torres’ father Felipe was
among the fi rst Puerto Ricans
elected to the New York
State Assembly representing
the South Bronx before the
younger Torres succeeded
him in the statehouse as a
Democrat in 1961.
Torres in his one-term in
the Assembly lobbied for the
elimination of English literacy
tests for Puerto Rican
voters, a measure that was
banned by the 1965 Voting
Rights Act.
After law school, Torres
served as an assistant district
attorney in the Bronx and
founded the Ponce de Leon
Federal Savings Bank, one
of the fi rst banking institutions
specifi cally established
to serve the Hispanic population.
The bank has three
branches in the Bronx.
Torres’ career continued
when he worked in the New
York offi ce of the federal Department
of Housing and Urban
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Development, a post he
served in for 15 years, before
becoming the director of civil
rights and equal opportunity
of the New York area offi ce.
But he would soon receive
a career-defi ning appointment
to Family Court by
then-mayor Edward Koch in
1980.
When he was appointed to
the New York Supreme Court
in 1987, Torres was a vocal
proponent of increased Latino
representation on judicial
benches across the state.
In 1991, he penned an article
in The New York State
Bar Journal and pointed out
a lack of judicial diversity
in New York, particularly
among the then-1.8 million
Hispanic New Yorkers. According
to Torres, despite
2,000 Hispanic lawyers practicing
in the state, there was
not one Hispanic judge on any
benches.
“This absence is a vestige
of American unequal opportunity
and racial discrimination,”
he wrote.
In addition to founding the
Latino Judges Association,
Torres also became heavily
involved in promoting judgeships
and legal pathways for
high school and college students.
One of Torres’ many former
interns and current
judge of the New York Supreme
Court 12th Judicial
District, Eddie McShan described
Torres as a sincere
judge well-respected by both
prosecutors and defense attorneys
alike, who didn’t hesitate
to bring people from nontraditional
backgrounds and
show them pathways into the
judicial arena.
“He would take on kids
who many classifi ed as problem
children and would have
them intern in his chambers
and show them a world outside
of the Bronx and outside
of their circumstances and
environments,” McShan said.
“It’s something that I felt inspired
to do as well … He was
an inspirational fi gure for
not just minorities but anyone
who worked in his chambers.”
Torres also pushed for law
fi rms to broaden their hiring
searches to seek more Hispanic
candidates, marking a
crossroad in the topic of judicial
diversity.
“Perhaps more than anyone,
he understood that our
system of justice works best
when it truly represents the
people it serves,” T. Andrew
Brown, president of the New
York State Bar Association,
said in a statement. “At the
heart of his legal career and
jurisprudence was his deep
commitment to justice for the
common man.”
Torres’ daughter Analisa
serves as a judge for the U.S.
District Court for the Southern
District of New York, having
been nominated by former
President Barack Obama
in 2013.
Frank Torres passed away on Aug.
19, 2021, at the age of 93.
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