Melvin Cornfield, former vice president and treasurer of RCA Records, dies at 97

Melvin Cornfield, born June 5, 1927, died peacefully on Nov. 2 at the age of 97. He worked as a tax lawyer for decades at reputable companies, most notably as the tax director of NBC before his promotion to its parent company. During the final decade of his career, he served as director of New York University’s tax institute. He also worked alongside Thurgood Marshall to devise tax codes that would advance the NAACP civil rights work in effectively desegregating the South.

He was born on the west side of Chicago, the son of Harry Cornfield, a grocer born in Ukraine, and Annabelle Cornfield, a native Chicagoan with Ukrainian parents. His perspective and opinions often reflected his background, and in retirement, his volunteer efforts included tutoring immigrants in the New York Public Library adult literacy program.

With his brother Gilbert, he graduated college and law school from the University of Chicago and was an active participant in the campus chapter of the National Lawyers Guild during the Cold War.

While working at a day camp in Chicago, he met a fellow counselor, and by the end of the summer, they were engaged. He devoted himself to his wife, Edith, a concert pianist, for 69 years of marriage until her death in 2020.

Avid bird watchers, the couple took trips to wildlife sanctuaries and engaged, even the youngest family members, in identifying birds from their back porch in Riverdale, feeding the ducks, turtles and fish in Indian Pond. They were proud of their support of local organizations including the New York Botanical Gardens, Wave Hill, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Society Library. A longtime member of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club of the northwest Bronx, he was politically engaged and active in the 2024 election.

He is survived by his brother, his two children, his three grandchildren and his two great-grandchildren.