Peter Verniero remembered former Associate Justice James Coleman as “a person of strong intellect with an unshakable sense of fairness and unyielding integrity.”
Angelo Genova called him “a giant of the bench and the bar.”
Vito Gagliardi, Jr., managing principal of Porzio, Bromberg & Newman, the firm at which he spent his final 20 years as an attorney, said Coleman was “a historic barrier-breaker, a towering intellect, and a fundamentally decent gentleman.”
Coleman the first African American named to the New Jersey Supreme Court, selected to serve by Gov. Christine Todd Whitman in 1994, died his past weekend at 91.
His towering legacy as a jurist – and an outstanding individual – was recalled by many.
“We join the Coleman family, the legal community, and all those who respect our system of justice in mourning the loss of Justice Coleman,” Gagliardi said.
“We were blessed to have him spend the last 20 years of his career at Porzio, and we are grateful for the way he helped so many clients and mentored so many of our lawyers.”
The son of a sharecropper, born May 4, 1933, in segregated Lawrenceville, Virginia during the Great Depression and the height of racial segregation and white supremacy, Coleman overcame great odds throughout his life.
He graduated from James S. Russell High School, where he served as class salutatorian. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Virginia State University in 1956 and received his J.D. from Howard University School of Law in 1959. Justice Coleman was admitted to the bar in New Jersey in 1960 and in 1963, he was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Coleman also served in the U.S. Army Reserve and was honorably discharged in February 1962.
His legal career is inspirational.
He was engaged in the private practice of law from July 1960 until February 1970, with offices in Elizabeth and Roselle. In 1960, Justice Coleman joined the former New Jersey Department of Labor and Industry as an Assistant to the Commissioner. During his service with the department, he was an assistant to the director of the Division of Workers’ Compensation; consultant to the New Jersey Rehabilitation Commission; counsel for and manager of the New Jersey Subsequent Injury Fund; and referee of formal hearings in the Division of Workers’ Compensation.
In 1964, Justice Coleman became the first African American to be appointed a judge in the New Jersey Division of Workers’ Compensation and served there until 1973 when Governor William Cahill nominated him to serve as a Union County Court judge. Justice Coleman served in that capacity until 1978, when he became a Superior Court judge, where he served in both the Civil and Criminal Divisions. Justice Coleman served on a Special Three-Judge Resentencing Panel from 1979 until 1981.
In 1981, Justice Coleman was elevated by Chief Justice Robert Wilentz as the first African American to serve on the Appellate Division and was named a Presiding Judge of the Appellate Division in May 1987 where he served until November 1994.
Whitman nominated Coleman to serve as an Associate Justice of the N.J. Supreme Court in 1994 – a nomination that was confirmed by the State Senate on Dec. 12, 1994 – a position he held until his retirement in 2003.
Verniero, of Sills Cummis, who served with Coleman on the Supreme Court, said he already glowing opinion of Coleman only increased when they became colleagues.
“I had the privilege of meeting then-Judge James Coleman when I was serving as chief counsel to Gov. Christine Whitman who appointed Judge Coleman to our state Supreme Court,” he said. “My respect for this towering leader of the law only increased when I joined Justice Coleman on the Court and saw up close his enormous abilities and the depth of his character.”
Verniero said Coleman understood the historic significance of his appointment but did not let it change him.
“He understood the historic and inspiring nature of his appointment, but he never acted as if he were a giant of the law, which he most surely 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 greatly. The New Jersey judiciary has lost one of its treasures.”
Genova, of Genova Burns, agreed. He said he recalls Coleman as a giant of the bar who made everyone better.
“Early in my career, I had several occasions to appear before Justice Coleman,” he said. “Without exception I was faced with precise and piercing questions always getting to the meat of the matter. He made me a better lawyer, but more importantly he made us a better state, and our judiciary a better court. He will be missed by many – and remembered by many more.”
Gagliardi summed up his impact this way.
“During a lifelong quest for fairness and impartiality, Justice Coleman’s contributions to the cause of racial and social justice are immeasurable,” he said.
Justice Coleman was the recipient of many honors, including:
· Renaming of the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation American Inn of Court the Justice James H. Coleman, Jr., New Jersey Workers’ Compensation American Inn of Court;
· Named a New Jersey State Bar Foundation 2003 Fellow;
· Named an American Bar Foundation Fellow; and
· Recipient of the New Jersey Law Journal (NJLJ) 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award.
Justice Coleman was the inaugural recipient of the Governor Kean Award for Commitment to People in Poverty, and the 2014 recipient of the Justice Thurgood Marshall Award of Excellence. He was also a recipient of the New Jersey State Bar Association Medal of Honor.
Justice Coleman’s portrait hangs proudly in a permanent display at the New Jersey Supreme Court, an honor bestowed upon him in 2016, 13 years after his retirement.
During his 39-year judicial career, Justice Coleman wrote over 2,000 opinions, of which approximately 400 have been published. In “A Plowboy’s Judicial Coronation,” Justice Coleman wrote:
“During my . . . judicial career, I wrote a number of cutting-edge opinions that decided whether an individual’s rights should be protected under the New Jersey or the Federal Constitution. We adopted a cutting-edge principle known as New Jersey Federalism under which the Federal Constitution sets a floor below which an individual’s rights cannot fall and our State Constitution as a ceiling for individual rights.”
Married to Sophia Coleman since 1962, Justice Coleman is survived by his two children, Kairon Mullins (Dr. John Mullins, Jr.) and James III, and four grandchildren, Amber, James IV, Sierra (Perry Meyers), and John III. Funeral arrangements remain pending and a private memorial service in his honor is also being planned.
Information regarding funeral services is as follows:
Wake (Aug. 23)
6-8 p.m.
Martin’s Funeral Home
48 Elm St., Montclair
7:30 p.m.
Closing Prayer by Rev. Dr. M. W. Howard
Final Committal
Entombment & Last Rites
Aug. 24, 2024
10 a.m.
Saint Stephen’s Cemetery & The Chapel at Short Hills
451 Millburn Ave, Millburn
