RICHARD SIMONS

SIMONS--Richard D. Richard D. Simons passed away Sunday, July 17th at his home in Rome, NY. He was 95 years old. He was born in Niagara Falls, NY on March 23, l927, son of William Taylor Simons and Sybil (Swick) Simons. He married Muriel (Penny) Genung on June 9, 1951. She died in 1992. He married Esther (Esi) Turkington Tremblay on May 21, 1994. He is survived by his wife, Esi, a son Ross and his wife Sheila of Liverpool NY, a son Scott of Portland, Maine, daughters Kathryn of Boston, Massachusetts and Linda of Bethesda, Maryland, two stepchildren, Mark Tremblay and his wife Tracy of Vienna, Virginia, and Cindy Tremblay and her husband Steve of Minneapolis, Minnesota, six grandchildren and six great- grandchildren. His sister, Joan Simons Eddy, of Bloomfield, NY predeceased him. Judge Simons was educated in the Niagara Falls and Yonkers public schools, and graduated from Colgate University and the Law School of the University of Michigan. During World War II, he served in the United States Navy as an Aviation Cadet. He was in training to be a naval pilot when the war ended and he returned to civilian life. He was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1952 and practiced law in Rome from 1952 until 1963 when he was elected to the New York State Supreme Court. During his law practice he served in the part time positions of Assistant Corporation Counsel and Corporation Counsel of the City of Rome. In 1963, he was elected a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court for the 5th Judicial District. In 1970, Governor Rockefeller designated him an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, 3rd Department in Albany and in 1972 he designated him an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division 4th Department in Rochester. During his time on the Appellate Division, New York State Court of Appeals Chief Judge Charles Breitel appointed Judge Simons four times as a judge on the Court on the Judiciary (a specialized court which investigated and disciplined sitting judges for misconduct), and in 1983 he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Albany Law School. In 1983, Governor Cuomo appointed Judge Simons to the NYS Court of Appeals where he served until he retired because of age in 1997. During his term on the Court of Appeals, Simons served from 1992-1993 as the Acting Chief Judge of the State of New York and of the Court of Appeals. During his years on the Court he mentored a generation of law clerks that went on to successful legal careers and maintained their relationship with him for the rest of his life. Following his retirement, he was "of counsel" to the Rome Law firm of McMahon and Grow. During that association, he worked primarily as an arbitrator and as an expert witness on New York State law testifying in litigation in other American jurisdictions and in Europe and Australia. Judge Simons served as a director of the Capital Defender Office, Chief Judge of the Oneida Indian Nation, Jurist-in-Residence at the Syracuse University Law School, a member of the Law School Admissions Services and as a member of the Bar Passage Study Commission. He also served as a member of the Editorial Staff of the New York Pattern Jury Instruction Manual. He served as a member of several judicial commissions at the request of NYS Court of Appeals Chief Judge Kaye: The Commission on the Future of the New York Courts, The Commission to Promote Trust and Confidence in the Legal System, and The Commission on Fiduciary Appointments. Chief Judge Kaye also appointed him as Chair of the Judicial Election Qualification Commission for the 5th Judicial District, a body screening the qualifications of prospective judicial candidates.He was a member of the Fair Elections Project Inc. and the Campaign for Effective Justice. In 1987, Judge Simons was selected as one of fifteen lawyers and judges in the country to participate in a one-month study session at the University of Virginia Law School. He was a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, Fellow and former Chair (1997-1998) of the New York State Bar Foundation, and member of the American Law Institute, and the American, New York State, Oneida County and Rome City Bar Associations. He served as the Chair of the New York State Bar Association's Commission on Court Structure and Judicial Selection and of its Task Force on Court Reorganization. In 2000, the New York State Bar Association awarded Judge Simons its Gold Medal for Distinguished Service to the Profession. The national chapter of his college fraternity, Sigma Chi, named him a "Significant Sig", an honor conferred nationwide. Following his retirement from The Court of Appeals, he joined a former colleague, Stuart Hancock of Syracuse, in working with lawyers representing the Oneida Nation in designing a court system and creating a legal system for the Oneida Nation. Judge Simons served as a judge of the court for over 20 years. His Local activities included a term as Chairman of the Rome Republican Committee and Vice Chairman of the Oneida County Republican Committee before he became a judge, as Trustee of the First Presbyterian Church of Rome, Member of the Board of Managers of the Rome Hospital and Murphy Memorial Hospital, and Trustee of the Rome Art and Community Center Judge Simons was an enthusiastic golfer and downhill skier. He and his family built their own ski lodge at Gore Mountain in the Adirondacks and skied there weekly in the winters for over 40 years. He enjoyed downhill skiing at Gore Mountain and various western resorts until he was 83 years old.