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Peter Verniero remembered former Associate Justice James Coleman as “a man of extraordinary intellect, an unwavering sense of fairness and an indomitable sense of integrity.”
Angelo Genova called him a “giant of the court and the bar.”
Vito Gagliardi, Jr., Managing Director Porzio, Bloomberg, and Newman, A lawyer at the firm, where Coleman spent the last 20 years of his legal career, said Coleman was “a historic groundbreaker, a brilliant intellect and an essentially decent gentleman.”
Coleman, the first African American appointed to the New Jersey Supreme Court, was appointed by Gov. Christine Todd Whitman in 1994. He died this past weekend at the age of 91.
Many remember his brilliant legacy as a jurist and a distinguished personality.
“We join the Coleman family, the legal community and all those who respect our judicial system in mourning the passing of Judge Coleman,” Gagliardi said.
“We are honored that he spent the last 20 years of his career at Porzio, and we are grateful that he helped so many clients and mentored so many attorneys.”
The son of a sharecropper, Coleman was born on May 4, 1933, in Lawrenceville, Virginia, during the height of the Great Depression, segregation, and white supremacy, and he overcame tremendous odds throughout his life.
He graduated as valedictorian of James S. Russell High School, received his BA, cum laude, from Virginia State University in 1956, and his J.D. from Howard University School of Law in 1959. Judge Coleman was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1960 and to the United States Supreme Court in 1963.
Coleman also served in the U.S. Army Reserve and was honorably discharged in February 1962.
His legal career was inspiring.
He was in private practice from July 1960 to February 1970, with offices in Elizabeth and Roselle. In 1960, Judge Coleman joined the former New Jersey Department of Labor and Industry as an Assistant Commissioner. While with the department, he served as Assistant to the Director of the Workers’ Compensation Division; Counsel to the New Jersey Rehabilitation Commission; Counsel and Manager of the New Jersey Subsequent Injury Fund; and Arbitrator in formal hearings before the Workers’ Compensation Division.
In 1964, Justice Coleman became the first African American to be appointed to the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Division and served until 1973, when Governor William Cahill nominated him to the Union County Court. Justice Coleman served in that position until 1978, when he became a Superior Court judge, serving in both the civil and criminal divisions. Justice Coleman served as a member of the Special Three Judge Resentencing Panel from 1979 to 1981.
In 1981, Justice Coleman was promoted by Chief Justice Robert Wilentz to become the first African American to serve on the Court of Appeals, and in May 1987 he was appointed Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, serving until November 1994.
In 1994, Whitman nominated Coleman to serve as an associate justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. The nomination was confirmed by the state senate on December 12, 1994, and Coleman served in that position until his retirement in 2003.
Verniero Sears ComisHe, who served with Coleman on the Supreme Court, said his opinion of Coleman grew even higher after they became colleagues.
“I had the privilege of knowing then-Judge James Coleman while serving as Chief Legal Counsel to Governor Christine Whitman, who appointed Judge Coleman to our state’s highest court,” he said. “As I joined Judge Coleman and got to know his extraordinary abilities and deep character up close, my respect for this outstanding legal leader grew.”
Verniero said Coleman understands the historical significance of the appointment but has not changed himself because of it.
“He understood the historic and inspiring nature of his appointment, but he never acted like some giant in the legal profession, which he certainly was,” he said. “Instead, he was down to earth, a mentor to his law clerks and a role model for the rest of us. I will miss him dearly. The New Jersey judiciary has lost a treasured talent.”
Genoa Genoa Burns, Agreed. He said he remembered Coleman as a giant in the legal profession who made everyone better.
“I appeared before Judge Coleman on numerous occasions early in my career,” he said. “Without exception, the questions I faced were precise and pointed, always getting to the heart of the matter. He made me a better lawyer, but more importantly, he made us a better country and our judicial system a better courtroom. He will be missed by many — and remembered by even more.”
Gagliardi summed up his influence this way.
“Judge Coleman dedicated his life to the pursuit of fairness and impartiality, and his contributions to the cause of racial and social justice are immeasurable,” he said.
Justice Coleman has received many honors, including:
· Rename the American College of Workers’ Compensation of New Jersey to “The American College of Workers’ Compensation of New Jersey” by Judge James H. Coleman, Jr.;
· Named a 2003 Fellow of the New Jersey Bar Foundation;
· Named as an American Bar Foundation Fellow; and
· Received the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Jersey Law Journal (NJLJ).
Justice Coleman is the first recipient of Governor Keene’s Award for Service to the Poor and is the 2014 recipient of Justice Thurgood Marshall’s Award of Excellence. He has also received the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Medal of Honor.
Justice Coleman’s portrait hangs proudly in a permanent exhibit at the New Jersey Supreme Court, an honor he received in 2016, 13 years after his retirement.
During his 39-year judicial career, Justice Coleman wrote more than 2,000 opinions, about 400 of which were published. In his book, The Judicial Coronation of a Farm Boy, Justice Coleman wrote:
“Throughout my … judicial career, I have written many frontier opinions deciding whether individual rights are protected under the New Jersey or federal constitutions. We have adopted a frontier principle known as New Jersey federalism, under which the federal constitution sets the floor for individual rights and our state constitution sets the ceiling for individual rights.”
Judge Coleman married Sophia Coleman in 1962 and is survived by two children, Karen Mullins (Dr. John Mullins) and James III, and four grandchildren, Amber, James IV, Sierra (Perry Meyers) and John III. Funeral arrangements have not yet been determined, and a private memorial service is being planned.
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