The present invention relates to a genetically engineered, CD19-specific chimeric T cell receptor and to immune cells expressing the chimeric receptor The present invention also relates to the use of such cells for cellular immunotherapy of CD9.sup.+ malignancies and for abrogating any untoward B cell function. The chimeric receptor is a single chain scFvFc:.zeta. receptor where scFvFc designates the extracellular domain, scFv designates the V.sub.H and V.sub.L chains of a single chain monoclonal antibody to CD19, Fc represents at least part of a constant region of an IgG.sub.1, and .zeta. represents the intracellular signaling domain of the zeta chain of human CD3. The extracellular domain scFvFc and the intracellular domain .zeta. are linked by a transmembrane domain such as the transmembrane domain of CD4. In one aspect, the chimeric receptor comprises amino acids 23-634 of SEQ I DNO:2. The present invention further relates to a method of making a redirected T cell expressing a chimeric T cell receptor by electroporation using naked DNA encoding the receptor.