Abraham Goldstein; was dean at Yale Law

WOODBRIDGE, Conn. -- Abraham S. Goldstein, a son of Ukrainian immigrants who became a successful Washington lawyer and dean of the Yale Law School, died Saturday at his home in Woodbridge after a heart attack, Yale University said. He was 80.

Born in Manhattan, Professor Goldstein graduated from City College with a degree in economics. He received a bachelor's of law degree from Yale Law School.

He joined the Yale faculty in 1956 after building a reputation as a trial lawyer in Washington. He was named the law school's 11th dean in 1970 but returned to fulltime teaching five years later.

In World War II, he worked in military intelligence after serving as a demolition man in the Army and a military policeman. After college, Professor Goldstein was a clerk for Judge David Bazelon of the US Court of Appeals in Washington.

Professor Goldstein joined the Washington firm of Donohue & Kaufmann and became partner while litigating civil and criminal cases. He wrote three books: ''The Insanity Defense," ''The Passive Judiciary: Prosecutorial Discretion and the Guilty Plea," and, with Leonard Orland, ''Criminal Procedure."

Professor Goldstein leaves his wife, Sarah, a son, William I., of Portland, Ore.; a daughter, Marianne of Peoria, Ariz.; a brother, Sidney, of Washington; three stepdaughters, Laura Schafer of North Brunswick, N.J., Sylvia Schafer of Willimantic, Conn., and Amy Schafer Boger of Concord, Mass.; and six grandchildren.

His first wife, Ruth, died in 1989 after 41 years of marriage.