Public Employee Press

MELS names its law library for founder Julius Topol

DC 37’s innovative legal benefit honored its founder by renaming its library for Julius Topol, the former DC37 general counsel and the first administrator of Municipal Employees Legal Services.

“It is very fitting that we rename this the Julius Topol Library,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

MELS Executive Director Joan Beranbaum led the dedication, which was attended by Topol’s daughter, Ellissa, his granddaughter, close friends and colleagues, MELS staff and alumni.

“I will always remember him as sensitive, hardworking and concerned,” Roberts said. “I have great memories of a great man.”

Topol died Sept. 3 at 90. He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, earned a law degree from Boston College and worked for the Ladies Garment Workers’ Union and the National Labor Relations Board before coming to DC 37 in 1966.

Topol marched for civil rights in Selma and protested against nuclear testing, said Ellissa. “He was always looking to solve the world’s problems,” she said.

He started MELS in the 1970s with the innovative idea of providing prepaid legal services with staff attorneys working closely with social workers to help members.

“Julie loved to discuss politics and the English language. He was always accessible and passionate about the union,” recalled retired MELS social work chief Sheila Menashe. “We could rely on him to question, to be thoughtful and to be fair.”