Assembly District, Irwin was mentioned between Thomas H. Smith, secretary of Tammany and Samuel Gompers). When Simon Steingut eventually died in 1919, he had impressed Irwin and most observers with his deep commitment for the community and especially the poor, a perspective that Irwin did not lose during his long legislative career. After Simon died on March 11, 1919, Irwin Steingut, now the principal of S. Steingut & Son, began a spurt of activity, soliciting apartment building owners in Manhattan, Brooklyn and The Bronx wishing to sell as well as garage owners. His break with the style of his father seemed complete when he began his campaign to have 1,000 businesses raise $50,000 to combat "radicalism" on the Lower East Side. It was a move to improve the image of the neighborhood and the citizen Jews who lived there. Irwin soon transitioned from a real estate to an insurance dealer business and move to Brooklyn, although he still listed the Manhattan address as his place of business right before his Brooklyn assembly campaign in his Board of Elections filing. John McCooey and the Madison Club of Brooklyn After his father's death, Irwin Steingut's move back to Brooklyn, which became his political base for the next three decades, was facilitated by Tammany Leader Charles Murphy, who introduced Steingut to John H. McCooey, the political boss of Brooklyn. The introduction proved the most fortuitous event in Steingut's life, for McCooey became his mentor, sponsor, and eventually closest friend. McCooey was a self-made man, having taken on the role of head of a family (of a widow and six children) at the age of 13 when his father died in an accident. For seven years he worked at the shipbuilding firm in which his father had worked Chester, Pennsylvania, while teaching himself mechanical engineering. At 20 he moved to New York eventually obtaining a job in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a job in the suffrage of the local political machine. In 1878 he obtained a position in the Post Office. Although he mastered all aspects of the service and was promoted to a more lucrative postmaster position, he was cashiered for political reasons when the Republicans regained control. He threw in with the local Brooklyn Democratic organization (for which he had been acting as a district leader) and obtained a post as deputy treasurer of King's County. Through his association with Patrick H.