Roger F. Bloom

Roger F. Bloom, 92, Real Estate Lawyer and Pioneer of Cooperative Ownership

Roger F. Bloom, a real estate attorney whose decades-long career helped shape the legal landscape of New York property law, died on August 3, 2026, in Southampton, N.Y. He was 92.

Mr. Bloom was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and later made his home in New York City and Southampton. He earned a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1956, an LL.B. from Columbia University in 1959, and an M.B.A. from the Stern School of Business at New York University in 1960.

He began his legal career at Botein, Hayes, Sklar and Hertzberg, later headed the New York real estate division of Dorsey & Whitney, and retired from Warshaw Burstein in 2020 after a career spanning more than six decades.

Mr. Bloom took great pride in pioneering the concept of cooperative residential property ownership in New York City beginning in the late 1960s, and he derived tremendous joy in applying that same concept to Hi-Ridge Cottages, a small community of vacation cottages on Peconic Bay in Hampton Bays, N.Y., which became the first cooperatively owned community in Suffolk County. It was there that he spent his happiest times, and he continued to make daily visits to look out from the cliffs to the bay until his final weeks.

In recognition of his devotion to legal education, Mr. Bloom established The Roger F. Bloom Fund at Columbia Law School, an endowed scholarship supporting students of law and economics.

Mr. Bloom possessed a tremendous intellect and an encyclopedic knowledge that he was always eager to share. He loved learning for its own sake and took particular pleasure in mentoring others. A longtime member of the One Page Poetry Circle at the New York Public Library, he chose a poem to share with the group each month until shortly before his death.

Yet alongside his intellect, Mr. Bloom carried a childlike and mischievous delight in life. He relished trips for ice cream with his children and grandchildren every bit as much as they did, and he loved reciting Shakespearean sonnets — as well as silly poems he’d committed to memory — for anyone willing to listen. He was devoted to his dog, cats and rabbit, who were constant companions throughout his life.

An avid lover of American history, Greek philosophy, opera and poetry, Mr. Bloom was a frequent visitor to museums and cherished nothing more than sharing meals with his family.

He was predeceased by his parents, Howard and Barbara Bloom, and his sister, Carol Bloom Schiff.

He is survived by his wife, Abigail Burnham Bloom; his children, Kai Thompson Hernandez (Keith), Alison Nielsen (Greg), and Zachary Bloom; his grandchildren, Valentin Hernandez and Shawn Nielsen; and his many nieces and nephews.

[Service/memorial details, or: In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the ASPCA.]