Associate Justice Morris Pashman

Associate Justice Morris Pashman was born in Passaic on Sept. 27, 1912. He was graduated from Passaic High School, New York University, University of Michigan and New Jersey Law School (Rutgers University), where he received his LL.B. in 1935. He was admitted to the New Jersey Bar as an attorney in 1936 and became a counsellor at law in 1939. He clerked for and was associated in the office of former Supreme Court Justice James F. Minturn. He served as police judge of the City of Passaic from 1946 to 1948 and then became magistrate of the Municipal Court from 1948 to the date of his resignation in January 1951, when he became a candidate for public office.

In May 1951, he was elected mayor of Passaic, an office he filled until May 1955. He was re-elected commissioner of the City of Passaic and became the director of revenue and finance from 1955 to 1959. After his re-election in 1959, he resigned and was appointed as judge of the Passaic County Court on July 1, 1959. On Dec. 1, 1961, he was appointed judge of the Superior Court by former Gov. Robert B. Meyner. He was reappointed to the Superior Court by Gov. Richard J. Hughes in May 1968.

He was serving as assignment judge in Bergen County when Gov. William T. Cahill appointed him to the Supreme Court. He was sworn as associate justice on June 17, 1973, and served until his retirement on Sept. 26, 1982. Justice Pashman died on Oct. 3, 1999, at the age of 87. He and his wife Terna had two children.

Justice Pashman was a member of the King's Bench (Rutgers), Passaic County, New Jersey State and American Bar Associations. He served as president of Passaic County Bar Association in 1955.