Retired Third Circuit Judge John Gibbons died yesterday. He was 94 years old.
Judge Gibbons was nominated to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals by President Nixon in December 1969 and was confirmed by the Senate twelve days later. He was a member of that court until he retired from the bench in 1990. From 1987 to 1990, Judge Gibbons served as Chief Judge.
Judge Gibbons was a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and Harvard Law School. After law school, he joined the Newark firm of Crummy & Consodine, which later became Crummy Consodine & Gibbons. Upon retiring from the bench, Judge Gibbons rejoined the firm, which not long afterward (and after some intermediate name changes both before and after he rejoined the firm) became known as Gibbons, P.C.
While on the Third Circuit, Judge Gibbons authored more than 800 opinions. He had a tremendous impact on Third Circuit jurisprudence and, both on the bench and before and after his judicial career, on the New Jersey legal community. He will be missed by many.