Frank D. O'Connor

O'Connor was born on December 20, 1909, in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Irish immigrants. He grew up in Elmhurst and graduated from Newtown High School and Niagara University in 1932, and from Brooklyn Law School in 1934. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II. He later practiced law in Queens and became active in politics as a Democrat.

He was a member of the New York State Senate (6th Dist.) from 1949 to 1952, sitting in the 167th and 168th New York State Legislatures. In November 1952, he ran for re-election, but was defeated by Republican Bernard Tompkins.

O'Connor gained fame as a lawyer in 1953, when he defended Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero, a bass player at the Stork Club falsely accused of armed robbery. The story was the basis of the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Wrong Man, in which O'Connor was portrayed by Anthony Quayle.

O'Connor was again a member of the State Senate (8th Dist.) in 1955. In November 1955, he was elected as District Attorney of Queens County, and remained in office from 1956 to 1965. He was a delegate to the 1960 and 1964 Democratic National Conventions. In 1966, he was the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of New York, losing to Nelson Rockefeller. He was President of the New York City Council from 1966 to 1968.

O'Connor was a justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1969 to 1979, and an Official Referee (i.e. a senior judge on an additional seat) of the Supreme Court from 1980 to 1985. From 1976 to 1985, he sat on the Appellate Division.

He died on December 2, 1992, in Booth Memorial Hospital in Flushing, Queens, from head injuries he had suffered 13 days earlier when he fell down a flight of stairs at his home.

• [http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=216 Biography of Frank D. O'Connor, New York City Department of Parks]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/03/obituaries/frank-d-o-connor-82-is-dead-retired-new-york-appellate-judge.html Frank D. O'Connor, 82, Is Dead; Retired New York Appellate Judge] in The New York Times on December 3, 1992

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{{succession box | title = New York State Senate
6th District | before = Charles T. Corey | years = 1949–1952 | after = Bernard Tompkins}}

{{succession box | title = New York State Senate
8th District | before = Thomas J. Cuite | years = 1955 | after = Bernard Tompkins}}

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{{succession box | title = District Attorney of Queens County | before = T. Vincent Quinn | years = 1956–1965 | after = Nat H. Hentel}}

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{{succession box | title = President of the New York City Council | before = Paul R. Screvane | years = 1966–1968 | after = Francis X. Smith}}

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{{succession box | title = Democratic Nominee for Governor of New York | before = Robert M. Morgenthau
1962 | after = Arthur Goldberg
1970 | years = 1966}}

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Category:Niagara University alumni

Category:Brooklyn Law School alumni

Category:1909 births

Category:1992 deaths

Category:Politicians from Manhattan

Category:Lawyers from Manhattan

Category:American people of Irish descent

Category:Queens County (New York) district attorneys

Category:New York (state) state senators

Category:New York Supreme Court justices

Category:United States Coast Guard officers

Category:20th-century American judges

Category:People from Elmhurst, Queens

Category:20th-century American lawyers

Category:20th-century members of the New York State Legislature