Jessica Burstein, a veteran photographer born in Mineola who worked with the “Law & Order” television series and New York Yankees, died in Manhattan from lung cancer, according to The New York Times. She was 76 years old.
Born on April 7, 1947, Burstein grew up in Lawrence and was educated in Switzerland and New York before graduating from New York University in 1968. She started working with photographer Bert Sterns as an assistant, according to The Times.
When she went to work for NBC as a staff photographer, she was believed to have been the first woman to fill the role, according to her online biography.
Burstein met “Law & Order” creator Dick Wolf while working at Elaine’s, an Upper East Side restaurant frequented by many celebrities until its closing in 2011. Burstein became the restaurant’s official photographer in 1992 and had her shots featured on the walls, according to The Times.
Burstein was the TV show’s photographer from 1994 to 2010 and worked on the spinoffs in the same role, including “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.”
In 2006 she earned the commission to document the construction of the New Yankee Stadium, which began that August, before hosting its first opening day in 2009.
“There was no competition for the job; we knew Jessie from some work she had already done for us,” Yankees President Randy Levine told The Times. “She was a world-class photographer.”
Her other credits included the drama series “New York Undercover” and “Deadline,” among others.
Burstein’s mother, Beatrice. was a justice of the New York State Supreme Court, one of the first women to hold that title. A Democrat, her career of more than three decades included serving on three different Nassau County courts.
Karen Burstein, Jessica’s sister, is a former state senator who was the Democratic nominee for attorney general of New York in 1994.
Burstein is survived by her other sister, Patricia, and two brothers, Judd and John.