Judith S. Kaye, Chief Judge of the State of New York, 1993-2008, was born in Monticello, New York, in 1938. She was appointed by Governor Mario M. Cuomo on February 22, 1993, confirmed by the State Senate on March 17, and sworn in on March 23, 1993. She was the first woman to occupy the State Judiciary's highest office. She became the first woman to serve on New York State's highest court after Governor Cuomo appointed her Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals on September 12, 1983.

B.A., Barnard College, 1958; LL.B., New York University School of Law (cum laude), 1962. Admitted to the New York State Bar, 1963.

Chief Judge Kaye engaged in private practice in New York City until her appointment to the Court of Appeals. She Co-Chaired of the Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children. Among other posts, she served as a trustee of the Clients' Security Fund (now the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection), trustee of the Law Center Foundation of New York University, director of the Legal Aid Society, director of the American Judicature Society, Executive Committee member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and member of various other committees of the New York State and American Bar Associations. Judith Kaye, wife of the late Stephen Rackow Kaye, has three children and seven grandchildren.