Barney Frank, a former House Financial Services Committee chair and Democrat who represented Massachusetts’s 4th Congressional District from 1981 to 2013, died on Tuesday night. He was 86 years old.
The late Jewish congressman had been in hospice in recent months at home in Ogunquit, Maine, and was treated for congestive heart failure, NBC reported, citing Frank’s sister and a close friend.
Frank is known for co-authoring the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act with then senator Chris Dodd in 2009 to reform the financial services industry.
The Obama administration said at the time that the act, which then President Barack Obama signed into law in 2010, was the “most far reaching Wall Street reform in history,” that would “prevent the excessive risk-taking that led to the financial crisis.”
“The law also provides common-sense protections for American families, creating new consumer watchdog to prevent mortgage companies and pay-day lenders from exploiting consumers,” it said. “These new rules will build a safer, more stable financial system—one that provides a robust foundation for lasting economic growth and job creation.”
William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told JNS that “over the years, in many conversations and settings, Congressman Frank brought the same clarity to Israel that he brought to everything else.”
“He never masked his disagreements with particular policies, and he did not temper his criticism to make anyone comfortable,” Daroff said. “But he also never allowed those disagreements to obscure the fundamentals.”
The former congressman “approached Israel as a liberal Zionist: engaged, critical and deeply committed,” Daroff told JNS.
“He spoke with real pride about Israel’s leadership on LGBTQ rights, often pointing to it as a reflection of the country’s democratic character in a difficult region,” he said. “His support for Israel’s security, and for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, remained constant. He believed that one could argue vigorously about policy while standing firmly on principle, and he lived that balance with consistency and integrity.”
The Jewish Federations of North America told JNS that Frank was a “trailblazing public servant, whose decades of leadership helped shape a more just, inclusive and equitable America.”
“Deeply grounded in Jewish values and traditions, Congressman Frank brought a profound sense of moral responsibility to public life, guided by the belief that government has an obligation to protect the vulnerable and strengthen the fabric of society,” the Federation told JNS. “His legacy of leadership, sharp wit and unwavering commitment to justice will endure far beyond his years in office.”
“We extend our deepest condolences to his husband, family, friends, former colleagues and all who were touched by his extraordinary life and career,” it added.
On social media, Daroff stated that Frank “represented a generation of public servants who combined sharp intellect, moral conviction and an unmistakable voice.”
“He broke barriers as one of the first openly gay members of Congress, shaped financial policy for decades and remained proudly and unapologetically Jewish throughout his public life,” Daroff stated. “I appreciated the opportunity to spend time with him over the years. May his memory be for a blessing.”
Frank was born Barnett Frank to a working-class Jewish family in New Jersey. He changed his name legally to Barney in the 1960s.
He began but didn’t finish a doctorate at Harvard University, where he taught courses on government. He later earned a J.D. from the university.
The congressman had a longstanding friendship with the late Grand Rabbi Levi Horowitz, the Bostoner Rebbe, who died in 2009.
On Sept. 24, 2001, Frank spoke on the House floor about the Bostoner Rebbe’s synagogue, New England Chassidic Center, and his nonprofit Rofeh International, which “has pioneered in efforts to make it possible for people all over the world to derive the great benefits of the first rate medical care that is available in Boston,” he said.
“Rabbi Horowitz, in addition to his religious role, is a leading scholar in the field of medical ethics—indeed, I have myself benefited from his advice in dealing with some of the important research issues which are now before us—and it is thus not surprising that he has played this leadership role in an organization which make it possible for people to receive vital medical treatment, which would otherwise not be available to them,” Frank said at the time.
