Manhattan's model for 'Law and Order' prosecutor to retire
NEW YORK -- Robert Morgenthau, the prosecutor renowned as one of the nation's top law enforcement officials over a nearly half-century career, announced Friday he would retire when his term ends in December.
Morgenthau, 89, the model for TV series Law and Order prosecutor Adam Schiff, said he recently calculated he had served 25 years past the ordinary retirement age, and "decided I wouldn't push my luck any further."
"I have been the conductor of an extraordinary orchestra," he said, praising a staff of more than 500 attorneys and other personnel that comprise one of the nation's largest prosecutor offices. "I owe each one of them a great debt of gratitude for all the terrific work they've done."
He said he would spend the rest of the year working on pending investigations, including what he cryptically alluded to as a case related to suspected weapons of mass destruction.
Age did not figure in the decision, said Morgenthau, a World War II Navy veteran who in recent years has walked with a shuffling gait and suffered hearing loss. His wife, writer Lucinda Franks Morgenthau, sat at his side during his announcement, repeating reporters' questions he'd missed.
News of his impending retirement prompted near universal tributes for Morgenthau's handling of thousands of major cases — many involving complex financial fraud — and heated an already simmering succession battle for his coveted post.
"He is the great law enforcement figure in our country over the last 50 years. There is no question," said Michael Cherkasky, CEO of security services firm USIS and a former top Morgenthau investigator and administrator. "To have someone other than Bob Morgenthau being the dean of prosecutors in our country is obviously going to be a huge change, the end of an era."
President Kennedy tapped him as Manhattan's top federal prosecutor in 1961 after Morgenthau worked on his winning White House bid one year earlier. After being fired by President Nixon, Morgenthau first won election as Manhattan's district attorney in 1974.
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