Robert K. Tanenbaum obit

Former Deputy Chief Counsel for the House Select Committee on Assassinations, Robert K. Tanenbaum, has died at the age of 83

 

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Robert K. Tanenbaum, a former Beverly Hills mayor and bestselling legal thriller author, was remembered by family as a man of integrity, public service, and deep love for his community.

Robert K. Tanenbaum, a former Beverly Hills mayor and longtime public figure known nationally for his legal thrillers, has died, according to a family announcement shared on social media.

In a post announcing his passing, his daughter, Rachael Tanenbaum, described her father as a man defined by “strength, keen intellect, integrity, and love,” and said he devoted his life to family, community service, and a lifelong pursuit of justice.

“I announce the passing of my beloved father, Robert Karl Tanenbaum.”

Tanenbaum’s ties to Beverly Hills extended beyond authorship and civic engagement. City records identify him as a former mayor who remained active in local issues years after leaving office.

Outside City Hall, Tanenbaum built a wide reputation as a novelist and trial attorney. Biographical profiles describe him as a former mayor of Beverly Hills whose career also included senior roles in criminal prosecution before his success as an author.

He was best known for his courtroom driven fiction, including long running legal crime series that helped define the modern “legal thriller” genre, and for later works that blended law, politics, and American history. A Beverly Hills Press profile noted his standing as a bestselling author and highlighted his book examining the Kennedy assassination, reflecting his interest in major national moments as well as local civic life.

According to the family announcement, a memorial service is planned for Sunday, January 11 at 1:30 p.m. at Mount Sinai Mortuary, Tanach Chapel, 5950 Forest Lawn Dr., Los Angeles.

Tanenbaum is remembered by loved ones as a devoted husband and father, and by readers and civic peers as a public servant who carried the habits of a prosecutor and storyteller into everything he did, from community life in Beverly Hills to a body of work read far beyond it.

Under the leadership of District Attorney Frank Hogan, Tanenbaum learned about trial preparedness and presenting evidence to a jury as an Assistant New York County District Attorney in Manhattan. Later, Tanenbaum became head of the Homicide Bureau, served as Chief of the Criminal Courts, and was in charge of the D.A.'s legal staff training program. During his time in the D.A.'s office, Tanenbaum never lost a felony case.

After his tenure in Manhattan's D.A.'s office, Tanenbaum served as Deputy Chief Counsel for the House Select Committee on Assassinations to investigate the John F. Kennedy assassination and the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination. He later resigned from the post shortly after being named. In 1988 he appeared in the documentary The Men Who Killed Kennedy and on 17 September 1996 he testified at a public hearing of the Assassination Records Review Board in Los Angeles. He wrote the introduction to Mark Lane's 2011 book Last Word: My Indictment of the CIA in the Murder of JFK. He was interviewed for the 2023 documentary JFK: What the Doctors Saw. In 2025 he published the book That Day in Dallas, featuring an introduction by Robert J. Groden.

In private practice, he was a special prosecution consultant on the Hillside Strangler case in Los Angeles; defended Amy Grossberg in her sensationalized baby death case; and represented eight black plaintiffs in a significant racial profiling case against the Beverly Hills Police Department.

He taught Advanced Criminal Procedure for four years at Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He conducts continuing legal education seminars for practicing lawyers in California, New York and Pennsylvania. He was a member of the State Bars of New York, Pennsylvania and California.