Joel William "Bill" Greenbaum

Joel William “Bill” Greenbaum, 75, of Bloomington, Indiana, went home to be with God at 1:36 PM on November 5, 2022 at his home. Born in the Bronx on November 9, 1946 to Jerome Greenbaum and Edna (Pines) Greenbaum and growing up in the Mount Hope neighborhood, Bill was imbued with a strong sense of right and wrong by his father. Initially hoping to embark on a military career, he joined City College of New York’s ROTC program and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the US Army Reserve in 1967. However, questions about Bill’s health were confirmed when he was discovered to have colitis, ending his hopes of being a career Army officer. Still committed to serve and protect, he briefly worked for several public service jobs before attending University of Michigan Law School, graduating in 1970. Per the recollections of his friends at the time, he never had any interest in private practice. In 1972 and 1973, Bill interned for and applied for a job with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, though noted that the District Attorney at the time, Frank S. Hogan, had been losing employees who had just gotten married, reneging on their promises to stay the DA’s Office. With Bill engaged and Frank Hogan having been burned one too many times, Bill was turned down. He nevertheless got a job as a Corporation Counsel for the Brooklyn Family Court, prosecuting juvenile offenders through 1976. With Robert M. Morgenthau’s election to the position of Manhattan District Attorney, however, Bill felt that he should apply again. This time, his application was accepted and beginning in 1977, Bill became an Assistant District Attorney for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Initially specializing in burglary cases, he began taking homicide calls on Christmas and Easter, desiring his Christian coworkers to be with their families. After a number of successful prosecutions, Bill’s specialty quickly became homicide cases in the 1980s. It was during this time that he refused at least two promotions in order to keep trying said homicide cases. He tried a number of high-profile cases, and, viewing it as doing his job, refused to comment publicly on any of them, though would regularly note cases in which certain commentators, writers, and press outlets had gotten things wrong—he would always keep not merely trial transcripts, but obtain copies of trial minutes and would debunk things held as gospel in mere moments with these to his family and close friends. A much less controversial and much-better-known legal precedent Bill set during this time was that a moving vehicle of any kind could be used as a murder weapon, up to and including a subway car, noting that in one particular case, a purse snatcher riding between cars had been aware of the momentum the cars created when dragging a victim behind him to her death as she tried fighting back. Although derogatorily given the nickname “Blue on the Bench” by a certain defense attorney who had a dislike of him and noted his friendship with a number of NYPD officers, Bill took it in stride, always valued these friendships, and it would even be later noted by District Attorney Morgenthau that it “couldn’t be completely accurate”, since at the time of his retirement in 2005, he was the only active Assistant District Attorney who had prosecuted both a cop killer and a corrupt police officer. He loved his job dearly, and continued on as a Consultant to the Manhattan DA’s Office from the time of his retirement as an Assistant District Attorney into 2008. He retired with his wife and son to Bloomington, Indiana in August of 2009. He had many hobbies, including but certainly not limited to model railroading with O Gauge trains, constructing and painting 1/48 scale and 1/72 scale model airplanes and 1/35 scale and 1/48 scale model military vehicles, painting military figures, collecting 1/43 scale model cars, trucks, and buses, collecting Dinky Toys and Corgi Toys toy cars, collecting W. Britains Ltd. toy soldiers, following and analyzing the results of political elections, linguistics, studying baseball history with his son, attending New York Mets games with his son, the shooting sports with his son, collecting pocket knives with his son, and attending museums with his son. Bill had eventually gotten married on February 5, 1983 to Patricia Mary Hart, his first engagement progressing not far beyond what Frank Hogan had seen. He had a son, John-William Hart Greenbaum, on November 1, 1988. He loved his wife and son dearly, and was remembered as both an excellent husband and exemplary father. He was also deeply committed to the causes of a strong national defense; particularly against Islamic Extremist terrorism, the People’s Republic of China, and Russia; and the ability of a citizen to defend themselves. He was in the process of informally moving away from Judaism and toward Catholicism when he passed. He was preceded in death by his parents, Lt. Colonel Jerome “Jerry” Greenbaum, USAFR (Ret.), and Edna Greenbaum. He is survived by his loving wife of thirty-nine years Patricia; son, John-William; sister Sylvia Goldmann; nephew, Noah Goldmann; niece, Kate Boling; and many good friends and acquaintances. In lieu of flowers, donations may be given to the Wounded Warrior Project, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Train Collectors’ Association of America, National Rifle Association, Gun Owners of America, Knife Rights, Revived Soldiers Ukraine, or the Republican National Committee, or “any police charity, particularly those providing to widows and orphans of fallen officers”. A funeral service will be held at 1:00pm Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at the Allen Funeral Home 4155 S. Old St Rd 37 Bloomington. With Father Simon Officiating. Burial will follow at Clear Creek Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 12:00pm to service time Tuesday, November 15, 2022 also at the funeral home. Allen Funeral Home and Crematory have been entrusted with arrangements. Online condolences, photos and memories may be shared with family and friends at www.allencares.com

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Joel William "Bill" Greenbaum

November 9, 1946 - November 5, 2022