Attorney Joel H. Sachs, partner and senior counsel at the White Plains-based law firm Keane & Beane P.C., died Jan. 24 at age 78. Sachs joined the firm in 1993 and is credited with establishing its environmental practice and building the firm”™s representation of municipal and land use clients.
Recently he had been representing neighborhood associations and individuals in a lawsuit against the city of Yonkers over its issuance of permits regarding expansion and increased activity at a UPS distribution center on Tuckahoe Road in the city.
In an interview with the Business Journal last November Sachs explained, “The problem we”™ve had since day one is that they”™ve completely ignored the concerns of the neighbors. They”™ve completely ignored the significant environmental impacts with the 24/7 operations, with noise, with odors, with refueling and they have a large number of vehicles that they are going to have on site for delivery of packages.”
Sachs was a recognized authority in the fields of environmental, real property, land use and municipal law and was honored by the Business Journal in 2007 with its Above the Bar Award in the field of environmental law. He was the first recipient of that award.
Sachs was active in numerous professional organizations including the New York State Bar Association, the Westchester Bar Association, the White Plains Bar Association, the National Institute of Municipal Law Officers and American Arbitration Association.
Sachs was admitted to practice before the state and federal courts in New York, Connecticut and Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Tax Court.
During his career, Sachs served as an adjunct professor at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University for more than 40 years teaching environmental and municipal law. He had served for five years as deputy chief of the Environmental Protection Bureau at the New York State Attorney General”™s Office, served as the town attorney for Greenburgh and Bedford and was village attorney for Pleasantville.
On behalf of Keane & Beane, he served as special land use and environmental counsel to municipalities in Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, Orange and Ulster counties.
Sachs received a bachelor”™s degree from Cornell University. He earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and received a Master of Laws degree from New York University. He had served as a law clerk to the Judge Charles H. Tenney of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Sachs is survived by his wife, Roslyn, daughters Beth and Lori, grandchildren David, Sarah and Talia Zoller and Maxwell and Lily Harrison, and sons-in-law Ron Zoller and Alexander Harrison.
Parkside Memorial Chapels reported there would be a private graveside funeral and interment at Sharon Gardens in Valhalla on Jan. 27 at 1 p.m. It said that in light of Covid restrictions, Shiva was to take place over Zoom and that a larger memorial was to be planned once Covid restrictions are eased.
