TRENTON, N.J. (AP) – Marie Garibaldi, the first woman to serve on the New Jersey Supreme Court and the author of an opinion requiring elite social clubs at Princeton University to admit women, has died. She was 81.
Colleagues say she was fair and calm and kept her network of 46 former clerks together like a family. She never dwelled on her role as a pioneer for women in the legal profession, said Judge Patrick DeAlmeida, a former clerk.
“She was a really loving person,” he said. “She was the paradigm of what you should be as a judge.”
Garibaldi died Friday at Hackensack University Medical Center, where she was on the board, said chief of staff Jose Lozano.
Gov. Chris Christie said Garibaldi had the ability to cut through legal jargon and drill down to the most important issues in a case.