Intrinsic in the Manhasset community and endeared to athletic boosters for getting legendary sports NFL star Jim Brown inducted into the Manhasset High School Athletic Hall of Fame, Art Kaminsky, 66, passed away last Thursday, after a long battle with cancer.
A lawyer and sports and entertainment agent, Kaminsky started his career by cultivating the United States hockey team which trounced the powerful Soviet hockey team in the 1980 Olympics. He had worked with the American players for months, convincing them of the benefits of staying amateur a while longer to play on a medal-winning team. Afterwards, when they turned professional, he represented two-thirds of the team as well as coach Herb Brooks in contract negotiations. At the time, he represented about one-third of the players in the National Hockey League. He also represented numerous other athletes.
Arthur Charles Kaminsky was born in the Bronx on Dec. 29, 1946. His family moved to Manhattan before he was five years old and migrated to Jericho by the time he was 12. He attended Cornell University, where he became friends with Ken Dryden (who played hockey for the school) and the sport became his passion. He earned his law degree from Yale Law School in 1971 and interned with consumer advocate Ralph Nader for a summer. He was a partner at Paul, Weiss law firm and helped organize political campaigns for Democrat Allard K. Lowenstein and other government officials.
Kaminsky leaves behind his wife, Andrea, daughter Alexis Bleich and son-in-law Michael, grandchildren Annie and Max, sons Thomas and Eric, and his sister, Janet Pawson.
