Jacob B. Grumet was an American lawyer and judge. He was chairman of the New York State Commission of Investigation.

Biography

Born in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 in 1900, Grumet graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School

DeWitt Clinton High School

DeWitt Clinton High School is an American high school located in the Bronx, New York City, New York.-History:Clinton opened in 1897 at 60 West 13th Street at the northern end of Greenwich Village under the name of Boys High School, although this Boys High School was not related to the one in Brooklyn...

 in 1918, City College in 1922 and the Columbia Law School

Columbia Law School

Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...

 in 1924, where he edited The Law Review

Columbia Law Review

The Columbia Law Review is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. In addition to articles, the journal regularly publishes scholarly essays and student notes. It was founded in 1901 by Joseph E. Corrigan and John M. Woolsey, who served as the review's first...

.

From 1931 to 1935, he was an assistant United States Attorney

United States Attorney

United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...

 in the Southern District of New York. From 1935 to 1947, he worked under Thomas E. Dewey and District Attorney Frank S. Hogan

Frank Hogan

Frank Smithwick Hogan was an American lawyer and politician from New York. Dubbed "Mr. Integrity" due to his perceived honesty and incorruptibility, he was D.A. of New York County for more than 30 years.-Life and career:...

. He assisted in the prosecution of such notorious gangsters as Waxey Gordon

Waxey Gordon

Waxey Gordon was an American gangster who specialized in bootlegging and illegal gambling. An associate of Arnold Rothstein during prohibition he was caught up in a power struggle following his death...

 and Louis (Lepke) Buchalter

Louis Buchalter

Louis "Lepke" Buchalter was a Jewish American mobster and head of the Mafia hit squad Murder, Inc. during the 1930s. After Dutch Schultz' request of the Mafia Commission for permission to kill his enemy, U.S. Attorney Thomas Dewey, the Commission decided to kill Schultz in order to prevent the hit...

. In 1942 he was appointed Chief of the Homicide Bureau in the New York County District Attorney's Office. He resigned in 1948 to go into private practice.

He was appointed the 17th Fire Commissioner of the City of New York by Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri

Vincent R. Impellitteri

Vincent Richard Impellitteri was an American politician, who served as the 101st Mayor of New York City.-Biography:He was born in Isnello, Sicily, and moved with his family to the United States as an infant in 1901...

 on July 18, 1951 and served in that position until the end of the Impellitteri Administration on December 31, 1953.

Appointed Chairman of the State Commission of Investigation by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller in 1960, Grumet led an inquiry into charges of corruption in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 that helped usher in the mayoral election year of 1961, in which Robert F. Wagner

Robert F. Wagner

Robert Ferdinand Wagner I was an American politician. He was a Democratic U.S. Senator from New York from 1927 to 1949.-Origin and early life:...

 was re-elected.

Grumet, a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

, left the panel in 1968 to become a State Supreme Court Justice

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

. He returned in 1976 to head an inquiry into a charge by a former special prosecutor, Maurice H. Nadjari, that Governor Hugh L. Carey had tried to dismiss him because he had been investigating high-level Democrats

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

. The charge was dismissed for lack of evidence.

Grumet died on June 7, 1987 at Beth Israel Hospital

Beth Israel Hospital

Beth Israel Hospital may refer to:*Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston*Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan*Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark...

in Manhattan at the age of 86.

Source

• William J. Keating, with Richard Carter: The Man Who Rocked the Boat (Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York, 1956, Library of Congress catalog card number: 56-6025)