Born 1911, Manhattan, New York
Died 1987


The son of Austrian immigrants, Lessinger graduated magna cum laude with a degree in accounting from City College of New York in 1932. Shortly thereafter, he became interested in photography. Although steadily employed as a tax accountant throughout his life, he earned extra income working as a portrait and commercial photographer. Joining the Photo League in 1948, he took classes with Sid Grossman and went on to teach classes in basic and advanced technique (1950–51). He also contributed to Photo Notes (1951) and exhibited his work, with other League members, in "Realism in Photography" at the American Contemporary Artists' Galleries, New York (1951). In the early fifties Lessinger photographed for the National Council of Jewish Women; his photographs appeared in various periodicals, including The Daily Compass, an American leftist newspaper. Between 1957 and 1961 he made color reproductions of paintings for the Museum of Modern Art and later worked at the Brooklyn Eye & Ear Hospital, documenting surgeries (1961–70). Starting in 1965, he taught photography for many years at Brooklyn College.