Benjamin Gilman

American politician (1922–2016)
the American museum curator (1852–1933)

Benjamin Arthur Gilman (December 6, 1922 – December 17, 2016) was an American politician and Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Middletown, New York, from January 3, 1973, to January 3, 2003.

Gilman was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, the son of Esther (Gold) and Harry Gilman. His parents were Austrian Jewish immigrants. Gilman graduated from Middletown High School in Middletown, New York, in 1941 and received a B. S. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1946. He also earned an LL. B. from New York Law School. Gilman served in the United States Army Air Corps from 1942 until 1945 during World War II. During that conflict, he flew 35 missions over Japan, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Clusters.

After graduating New York Law School in 1950, Gilman served as assistant attorney general to the Attorney General of New York from 1953 until 1955. Following this, he practiced law privately in his hometown of Middletown, New York. Gilman was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1967 to 1972, sitting in the 177th, 178th and 179th New York State Legislatures. He was a member of the New York State Southeastern Water Commission.

Gilman was married three times: to the former Jane Prizant (1927–2000), a lawyer and daughter of a well known actor of the Yiddish theater, Hyman Prizant, to Rita Kelhofer, and to Georgia Tingus. His children from the first marriage were Jonathan Gilman, Susan Gilman Harts, Harrison Gilman, David Gilman (deceased) and Ellen Gilman (deceased). After his retirement, he continued to live in Middletown, his home in the Hudson Valley district that he represented. Gilman was a 33 Degree Scottish Rite Freemason. A local Scottish Rite organization in Middletown, New York, the Benjamin Gilman Lodge of Perfection, is named in his honor and memory.

Gilman died on December 17, 2016, at the Castle Point Veteran's Hospital in Fishkill (town), New York from surgical complications, eleven days after his 94th birthday. He was survived by his third wife, Georgia, by three of his five children: sons Jonathan and Harrison, and daughter Susan. He is also survived by a stepdaughter, Nicole Pappas, and a stepson, Peter Tingus. He was survived by eleven grandchildren. A daughter, Ellen, and a son, David, both predeceased him.