Lawyer. Born in Dvinsk in the Russian Empire (now Daugavpils, Latvia). He emigrated with his parents to the United States, when he was a year old, settling in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.  He graduated from Perth Amboy High School in 1912. He served in the United States Army in World War I as a private and receiving an honorable discharge as a lieutenant. He attend night classes at New York Law School, receiving his LL.B. degree in 1917. He was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1919. In the same year he married Lena Goldman. In 1928 he was appointed City Attorney of Perth Amboy, and was elected Democratic chairman for Middlesex County in the same year. Governor A. Harry Moore appointed him as the Attorney General of New Jersey. In March 1932, Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the infant son of the aviator who flew the first solo trans-Atlantic flight from New York to Paris, had been kidnapped from the family mansion in Hopewell. The child’s body was found two months later in a shallow grave, but it was not until September 1934 that Mr. Hauptmann, a German-immigrant carpenter, was arrested. Although David had never before tried a criminal case, he built his case against Hauptmann on mostly circumstantial evidence, supported by both eyewitness and expert witness testimony. His effective presentation of evidence, the jury returned a guilty verdict and Hauptmann was sentenced to death. Hauptmann’s widow, Anna, attempted to get her husband’s case reopened. Anna Hauptmann’s appeals were denied. David died at his home in Long Branch, New Jersey at the age of 93. (bio by: Shock)  Family links:  Spouse:  Lena Goldman Wilentz (1898 – 1991)*  Children:  Norma Wilentz Hess (1921 – 2010)*  Warren W. Wilentz (1924 – 2010)* *Calculated relationship