Mates Friesel

Friesel emigrated to the United States from Poland.[1] He owned and operated a travel business.[1]

Friesel was one of the founders of the village of New Square, New York, which was formed in 1961.[1] During the mid-1950s, Skver Grand Rabbi Yakov Yosef Twersky dispatched a group of his followers from their home in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to a newly acquired 130-acre dairy farm, located in Ramapo, New York, in Rockland County, New York.[1] The group constructed a large synagogue, over the opposition by Ramapo town officials, and began building residential homes.[1] New Square was established in 1961 as the first predominantly Hasidic town in the United States.[1]

Mates Friesel was elected as New Square's first, founding Mayor in 1961.[2] He was unopposed in each of his mayoral campaigns from 1961 to November 2013, when he won his final election.[1][2] Under Friesel and Grand Rabbis Yaakov Yosef Twersky and David Twersky, the village acquired a former hospital along New York State Route 45, which was converted to village municipal offices and classrooms.[1] The village had also been purchasing land in the Catskills to construct a poultry plant.[1] Friesel met with U.S. President Jimmy Carter on his plane in the late 1970s.[1]

Friesel served as New Square's only mayor until his death in 2015.[1] He died in office on August 1, 2015, at the age of 91.[1][2] Friesel was survived by his wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was buried in Skver cemetery in New Square within 24 hours of his death, in accordance with Jewish law.[1]

New Square Deputy Mayor Israel Spitzer succeeded Friesel as the village's second mayor.[1]