Eric Steven Weiss

Eric Steven Weiss of Sleepy Hollow died quietly on September 7, 2021 after a valiant battle with cancer. He had just turned 71 the day before. Eric was born on September 6, 1950 in New York City and was the son of Jesse and Eva Semel Weiss. Over the years, he had lived in Wendell and Belmont, MA; Manhattan, Greenwich Village, Scarsdale, Sleepy Hollow and Denver, NC.

Eric has been practicing exclusively in the field of tax certiorari law since 1982 and joined Tuchman Katz as a partner in 2000.

Eric was the former chairman and longtime director of the Real Estate Tax Review Bar Association. During his time with the Tax Review Bar Association, Eric was the liaison to the city’s Dept. of Finance and met with them regularly to discuss forms and implementation.

A Riverdale native, Eric began his tax certiorari career with Schwartz & Weiss, P.C. as a law clerk before becoming an associate after graduation from New York Law School. During his tenure, Eric computerized the firm and developed practice specific computer programs that aided in the analysis of cases.

He later ran his own solo law practice for twelve years before joining Tuchman Katz, which prior to his retirement in 2018, had evolved into Korngold Weiss & Liebman. During this time, Eric became an expert in the minute details of Department of Finance reporting requirements and forms. 

While a solo practitioner, his was one of four firms asked to participate in a 1990 pilot program run by the Tax Commission to file documentation by computer which later led to its adoption throughout the bar.

His computer expertise also led to a commendation from the Chief Justice of the New York State Court systems for working on a project with the New York State Supreme Court Clerks. Nearly a year of cooperative discussions and meetings with these Clerks, assigned to the City’s courthouses, led them to ultimately implement a successful electronic filing program for tax certiorari petitions. This alleviated the Court Clerks from a six-week period during which their offices were flooded with over 30,000 petition filings just for city tax certiorari cases.  

A member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Eric was previously Chairman of its Condemnation and Tax Certiorari Committee. During his time on the committee, he was the Subcommittee Chairman focusing on the new Local Law 63 that implemented a Real Property Income and Expense Statement reporting and filing requirement for the first time. Similarly, he was chairman of a subcommittee that focused on the then new Co-op and Condominium Abatement Legislation. He was also the committee’s liaison to its Metes & Bounds real estate publication.

He is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York and has also been a member of its Tax Policy Committee. A member of the New York State Bar Association Real Estate Section he has been on its Committee on Condemnation, Certiorari & Real Estate Taxation.

He was also a member of the Commissioner of Finance's 1990 Real Property Reform Advisory Group that examined the legal structure of the current system and recommended changes.

He appeared at the Albany Law School panel on New York State property tax issues, Dec. 8, 2000.

Eric often spoke for real estate groups and at events and was frequently quoted in the press. He was a panelist at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, "Perspectives on Real Property Tax Reform" Oct. 17, 1990, and moderated a NYARM Congress panel on Equality in Property Taxation, Nov. 1993.

On a yearly basis he also presented a seminar on Real Property Taxation for the Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums’ Annual Cooperative Housing Conference and at the Action Committee for Reasonable Real Estate Taxes annual meetings.

He was a workshop speaker for the National Realty Club on "A Look at Deal Structuring and Workouts  (Rehabilitation Example), Property Taxes And Assessments" June 24, 1997 and on Real Property Taxation, February, 2003.

His articles have appeared in Real Estate Weekly, Habitat and Metes & Bounds.

A member of the Law Review, Eric graduated from New York Law School magna cum laude.   

Eric is a native New Yorker – growing up in Queens and Riverdale where he attended the Fieldston School. He later graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, CT with a B.A.

After Trinity classmates formed the Outerspace Band, based in both Lenox and Wendell, Massachusetts, Eric became its manager and booked gigs throughout New England, including at CBGB’s in New York City.

The band was chosen to perform at Susan Ford’s White House Prom and the event was recently celebrated on its 40th anniversary in a Vanity Fair article in which Eric was quoted.

Eric later moved to Boston and became a founding partner of Entertainment Concepts Inc., a college entertainment booking agency and manager of acts including mime, Trent Arterberry. 

During this time, he and Lois met, fell in love and were married.

They later moved to New York City's Greenwich Village.

On St. Patrick’s Day eve in 2018 he miraculously received a liver transplant at NYU Langone, since then living every day to its fullest.

At their Sleepy Hollow home, he had sun and star telescopes focused on the skies and spent weekends shooting trap and targets.

An avid sailor and kayaker, he was finally able to fish off his own pontoon boat and sail in his own sailboat on Lake Norman in Denver, North Carolina where he and Lois spent the last two years avoiding the pandemic.

He is survived by his wife Lois, sons Gabe (Stephanie) and Bradley; daughter Mona (Ethan Roose) and grandchildren Zoe and Jonah.

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