Renee Stern Steinig

Renee Steinig began to do genealogical research in the late 1970s, inspired by a cousin in Israel who made it look easy. Many family trees and some 18 years later, she went on to accept client work, serving attorneys as well as individuals eager to learn more about their families' pasts.

Her specialties include New York research, Jewish roots in Galicia, location of lost family, and due diligence for probate cases. She has testified as an expert witness in several New York Surrogate's Courts.

Renee's work in these and other areas is enhanced by her creativity, broad knowledge of genealogical resources, over 40 years experience, and deft use of numerous online databases. 

Renee's research projects have brought her to archives and libraries across the United States, in western and eastern Europe, and in Israel. She was a member of the first group of genealogists permitted access to the files of the International Tracing Service (now the Arolsen Archives) in Germany, where she documented the fates of many family members who perished in the Holocaust.

In June 2014, Renee's discoveries about the Jewish roots of New York City’s late Archbishop John Cardinal O’Connor were the subject of front-page coverage in the New York Times. She also made the news after finding evidence that the wife of a White House staffer was once on the Russian government's public relations team. Most recently, a news report covered her findings about the ancestry of Long Island congressman George Santos, disproving his claims that his grandparents were survivors of the Holocaust.

Her greatest joy has come from reuniting clients with previously unknown family.