Associate Justice Daniel J. O'Hern

Justice O'Hern was born in Red Bank on May 23, 1930. He attended Regis High School in New York, and was graduated from Fordham College in 1951. After receiving his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1957, he served his clerkship with U.S. Supreme Court Justice. William J. Brennan, Jr., who previously sat on the New Jersey Supreme Court. He was admitted to the District of Columbia bar in 1957 and the New Jersey bar in 1958; and in 1967, he was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Justice O'Hern served on the Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court, and was a trustee of the Legal Aid Society of Monmouth County. He was a past chairman of the Legal Education Committee of the Monmouth County Bar Association, and also was a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association. He was a past president of the Harvard Law School Association of New Jersey. He formerly practiced law with the Red Bank firm of Abramoff, Apy and O'Hern.

Justice O'Hern served in the U.S. Navy from 1951 to 1954 and was separated with the rank of lieutenant. He was aboard the USS Essex during the Korean War. A Democrat, he served as a councilman in Red Bank from 1962 to 1969 and was mayor from 1969 to 1978. He served as commissioner of Environmental Protection from May 12, 1978, until July 16, 1979, when he was sworn as counsel to the governor.

On April 20, 1981, Governor Byrne announced his intention to appoint Justice O'Hern to the Supreme Court. The nomination was submitted to the Senate on May 4, and confirmed May 20. Justice O'Hern was sworn in on Aug. 6, 1981. He sat on the Court until he retired on May 22, 2000. He died on April 1, 2009 at the age of 78. He and his wife, the former Barbara Ronan, had five children.

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