by Kristina Dodge

Leroy Van Nostrand

In 1959, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Chicago White Sox in the World Series. Frank Sinatra won his first Grammy Award for his album Come Dance With Me. People bowled at All Weather Bowling Alley on Sunrise Highway for 25-cents per game. The cost of a first-class stamp was four cents. And, Amityville resident and attorney Leroy Van Nostrand began his career as attorney for the Amityville School District, a job he held for almost five decades.

Van Nostrand, an avid boater and historian, retired this past June from his position as the school district’s attorney, capping his tenure there at 44 years. During that time, he also represented numerous other school districts in Babylon, including West Babylon.

"They (the school board) wanted to have a change and I was willing to do so," said Van Nostrand of his decision to retire from the district.

Jay Worona of the New York State School Board Association is unsure whether Van Nostrand’s run with the Amityville school district sets any record, but said he’s sure it lasted that long because of the specialized service that he and other school board attorney’s provide.

"It’s a specialized field, so if someone gets into that field and gets good at it, they are more likely to stay in it," said Worona, adding that most school lawyers enjoy their jobs.

Van Nostrand, who grew up in Babylon Village, began helping his partner Pierson Hildreth with the district in January 1950 when he joined his firm. At that time, the district had two facilities, the Park Avenue School, which was home to the elementary and junior high students, and the Memorial High School.

The district didn’t even have a superintendent of its own, but was managed by a supervising principal, said Seth Perdy, curator of the Amityville Historical Society.

In July 1959, Van Nostrand took over as district attorney when Hildreth left the firm to assume the position of Suffolk County Surrogate.

As attorney, Van Nostrand handled all the district’s legal matters, as well as, ushering through the financing of the construction of new buildings and acquired land for construction. He aided in the building of the Northeast School, the Northwest School and the Miles Middle School, all of which were completed on time and on budget, he said. He worked on legislation that allowed for the building of the Northwest School on the county line, and his experience with and preparation for teacher strikes prevented one in the Amityville District in the late 1960s.

"I probably know more about the district than anybody else in the district," said Van Nostrand.

At one point, Van Nostrand’s law firm, Van Nostrand and Martin in Amityville, represented approximately a dozen school districts on Long Island, including Massapequa, Cold Spring Harbor, and Hampton Bays. Van Nostrand personally handled three of the districts—Amityville, Levittown and Plainedge.

Over time, he noticed school boards change from passive to more active governing bodies, and he also noticed a change in his own role as the legal fields became more specialized.

"Things were different 60 years ago," he said. "I helped them with the budget and now they have experts."

Jeannette Santos, a former Amityville school board member worked with Van Nostrand when she served on the board from 1980 until 2001.

"He is really a fantastic person," said Santos. "Business-wise, he was very professional, and, as a person, he is a sweetheart."

Van Nostrand, in an attempt to break the monotony of the school year, treated the board members and superintendents of the school districts his firm handled to an annual boat ride out of Captree or Bayshore that included dinner and always ended with Van Nostrand playing his accordion for the group.

"Every chance he got, he wanted to play that accordion for everyone," recalls Santos.

Van Nostrand learned to play 40 years ago, after purchasing an accordion from a woman in Plainedge. Santos remembers Van Nostrand taking lessons during lunch hours, she said. He keeps an accordion in his homes in Amityville and Florida, and on his boat, Laura Dune.

Bill Morrell, an attorney at Van Nostrand’s firm, has known Van Nostrand since he was a child and considers him a mentor and a catalyst in New York state education. He pointed to Van Nostrand’s handling of the first New York case under the Taylor Law, a law written to prevent public employees from striking, as one example of his influence.

"He is an absolutely brilliant man," Morrell said. "A lot of young lawyers have learned a lot from him over the years."

Van Nostrand began his law career at his grandfather’s and uncle’s firm, Haff and Farrington, in Jamaica. Working there before and after he received his law degree from Brooklyn Law School, he assisted in appraisals and title examinations. He left his family’s law firm in 1950, to join the Amityville law firm of Pierson Hildreth, then Amityville village attorney and attorney for the Amityville school district. He knew Van Nostrand because both men were Amityville residents and together the pair continued the firm, which was started in 1890. In 1959 Hildreth left to fill the position of surrogate. In 1960 the Hildreth and Van Nostrand Law Firm became Van Nostrand and Martin.

Van Nostrand was drawn to a career in law because of the stability it offered, he said. Growing up during the Depression, job security was number one on his mind, and he had never heard of a lawyer out of work, he said.

"My main concern was security, which I have had for 60 years, and I have learned to love it," he said. "I plan to do it for ten more years."

Putting an end to his days as school district attorney, Van Nostrand continues to practice law and run his firm. Most of his time is dedicated to managing people’s estates, handling people’s money while they are alive and distributing it when they are gone, he said.

He is attorney for the Amityville Cemetery Association and is the endowment chairman for both the Amityville Historical Society and the First United Methodist Church. He owns real estate in Amityville and Florida and spends several winter months out of the year in Florida.

While past Amityville School Board president Hal Shad considers Van Nostrand to be an expert in his field, he is most impressed by Van Nostrand’s knowledge of Long Island and his enthusiasm for the community, he said. "My fascination with Roy is as a historian," said Shad. "He has so many interesting stories of how things happened. "

Born in Babylon in 1917 and a resident of Amityville with his wife Peggy for 61 years, Van Nostrand is a resource whose stories should be recorded for future generations, said Shad.

As a fellow boater and early riser, Shad recalls running into Van Nostrand several times while docking his boat at Gilgo Beach. Van Nostrand would tell him stories about the digging of channels and the creation of islands out in the bay, he said. There was also a time when Van Nostrand shared his knowledge of boat building with Shad’s stepdaughter for a school paper that was eventually published in the Long Island Historical Journal.

"He is kind of an icon in Amityville," he added. "He has been around so long,"