![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/packages/flash/multimedia/ICONS/transparent.png)
Arthur Finkelstein, right, in 1983 at the Yale Club in Manhattan with Paul Curran, left, a one-time Republican candidate for governor of New York, and Whitney North Seymour, the former United States attorney for the Southern District.
Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times; thumbnail, Gary Maloney, 2013
Arthur Finkelstein
Died on August 18, 2017 at age 72
Mr. Finkelstein was a reclusive political Svengali who revolutionized campaign polling and financing and helped elect a bevy of conservative candidates, including President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.
Notable Deaths 2017
Remembering Mary Tyler Moore, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lewis, David Rockefeller, Trisha Brown, Glen Campbell, Dick Gregory, Edith Windsor, Sam Shepard, Tom Petty and many others who died this year.