Irwin E.       Friedman

Irwin E. Friedman, prominent Bridgeport attorney, died June 18 at St Vincent’s Medical Center, Bridgeport.

He was the stepfather of Roger Bonvini of Sandy Hook and Robert Bonvini of Newtown.

Born in Bridgeport on July 21, 1910, Mr Friedman served as municipal court judge for the Town of Trumbull from 1951 to 1953. Appointed to the Connecticut Civil Rights Commission in 1953, he was named chairman in 1957. He was a member of the executive committee of the State Bar Association, the Anti-Defamation League, and the United Jewish Appeal. He was also a member of the Patterson Club of Fairfield. He served as president of the Rehabilitation Center for Eastern Fairfield County, chairman of the Park City Hospital Foundation, chairman of the Board of Associates of the University of Bridgeport, an original member of the Advisory Commission of the University of Bridgeport Law School (now Quinnipiac Law School), and board member at Quinnipiac Law School. He was a Baldwin Award Committee founder.

In 1984, he received the Man of the Year award from the University of Bridgeport Law School. A 1932 graduate of Boston University School of Law, and member of the Connecticut State Bar, the United States District Court, and the United States Supreme Court, Mr Friedman joined his brother Samuel in the law firm of Friedman and Friedman in Bridgeport. He acted as a trial referee for both Superior Court and the United States District Court in his later years. He was married to the late Ruth Wells Friedman, who died in 1967.

He is survived by his wife, Micheline Friedman; his daughter, Wendy Brest of Stamford; his son, Gary Friedman of Muir Beach, Calif.; a stepdaughter, Anita Ignaszewski of Stow, Mass.; and eight grandchildren.

Memorial donations may be made to the Greater Bridgeport Area Foundation, Irwin E. and Micheline Friedman Fund.

Services took place on Thursday, June 21, at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, 2385 Park Avenue, Bridgeport, with interment following at Hebrew Sick Benefit Association Cemetery, on Black Rock Turnpike, Fairfield.

The Abraham L. Green & Son Funeral home was in care of arrangements.

The Newtown Bee         June 22, 2001