More than eighty people gathered to celebrate the Judge’s extraordinary legacy of justice and the launch of the fund at EJUSA in his honor. Guests included family, friends, former law clerks, former colleagues from Seton Hall Law School, and former and current recipients of the John J. Gibbons Fellowship in Public Interest & Constitutional Law, which litigates historic, cutting-edge civil rights and civil liberties cases. Also attending were several of the Judge’s friends and colleagues from the Fund for New Jersey, which generously provided an inaugural leadership gift to honor the Judge, a founding Fund for New Jersey board member for more than 40 years before his retirement in 2015.
Established by the Gibbons family and EJUSA, the Judge John J. Gibbons Fund for Justice at EJUSA honors the Judge’s five decades as a judge, lawyer, and advocate who has tirelessly worked to advance our nation’s promise of civil rights, civil liberties, and human rights. His unwavering belief in these principles led him to represent death row inmates and to play a critical role in the historic 2007 repeal of New Jersey’s death penalty.
The Judge John J. Gibbons Fund for Justice at EJUSA will continue Judge Gibbons’ vision of justice into the future by supporting EJUSA’s work to end the death penalty.
Check out the pictures from the event. Click on any picture for a full-screen view with captions:
EJUSA Board member Ursula Bentele (left) and Executive Director Shari Silberstein
EJUSA’s Development Coordinator Christopher Soto
L to R: Bob Rose, former clerk to Judge Gibbons; NJ Supreme Court Chief Justice Deborah Poritz, retired, who is the board chair for the Fund for New Jersey, which gave an inaugural leadership gift to the Fund; and former Gibbons clerk Carol Marcus
Former Gibbons clerk Catherine Perusse with EJUSA Executive Director Shari Silberstein
Members of the Gibbons family
The Honorable Robert J Gilson, former Gibbons Clerk, (left) and his wife, Wendy with Larry Lustberg, Chair of the Gibbons Criminal Defense Department, longtime Director of the John J. Gibbons Fellowship in Public Interest & Constitutional Law, and member of the Fund launch committee
Judge Gibbons (left) with Michael Griffinger, Director of Business & Commercial Litigation at Gibbons P.C.
Virginia Hardwick and the Judge (1)
Judge Gibbons with former clerk Virginia Hardwick
Judge Gibbons’ granddaughter, Claire Koshland Whipple, who is a member of the fund launch committee, with her father, John Whipple
Larry Lustberg and Virginia Hardwick
EJUSA Executive Director Shari Silberstein with Kevin Walsh, who served with the Judge on the Executive Committee of New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
Judge Gibbons greets his former Clerk, Ted Wells, who served on the Fund’s launch committee
Judge Gibbons with former clerks (L to R) Ted Wells, Lawrence Robbins, and Brad Brian
Judge Gibbons’ son, Richard Gibbons (right), with John Cornwall, Trustee with the Fund for New Jersey
Dave Pollack (left) and Avren Frey, current Gibbons Fellows at Gibbons P.C.
Former Gibbons Fellows Jenny Brooke Condon and Alicia Bannon
EJUSA Executive Director Shari Silberstein with Kelly Fitzgerald
Judge and the rest of the crowd listens to the speakers
Larry Lustberg, Chair of the Gibbons Criminal Defense Department, longtime Director of the John J. Gibbons Fellowship in Public Interest & Constitutional Law, and member of the Fund launch committee, addresses the crowd
Former Gibbons Clerk Ted Wells, who is a member of the Fund launch committee, addresses the crowd
EJUSA Executive Director Shari Silberstein addresses the crowd
Judge Gibbons with a former clerk, Howard Schrader
Judge Gibbons flanked by two former clerks, Linda Imes (left) and Kathleen Dockry
Larry Lustberg final words with Judge Gibbons
Larry Lustberg shares an embrace with Judge Gibbons
EJUSA Executive Director Shari Silberstein shares some final words with Judge Gibbons
