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Judge William Forester retires after 20 years on bench
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BRIDGETON - Superior Court Judge William L. Forester, a Millville resident who formerly served as Millville city solicitor for 16 years, retired Tuesday after a 20-year career on the bench.
For the past nine years, Forester, 66, served as a criminal judge in Salem County. Before that, he sat in Cumberland County's Civil Division for eight years. Forester also served a three-year stint as a family court judge at the beginning of his judgeship.
Assignment Judge Georgia Curio, who oversees court operations in Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties, said Tuesday that Forester contributed greatly to the busy vicinage, or county court system, she manages.
"It's difficult to see him go because he's been such a workhorse for us," Curio said. "He's very committed to the judiciary and to doing justice. He's first-rate."
A 1965 graduate of Gettysburg College, Forester received his law degree from the University of Tennessee Law School. Upon his return to Millville, he practiced commercial litigation before being appointed the city's head attorney in the early 1970s.
He also served a one-year term as president of the Cumberland County Bar Association in 1982.
Forester said Tuesday that he was leaving his job with somewhat of a heavy heart.
"I'm not burned out," he said. "I'm not mad at anybody. To the contrary, it's a bittersweet thing. It's time for me to go. It's time for a younger person to get a chance at it."
In looking back over his 20-year career in the judiciary, Forester said the one matter that sticks out most in his mind were the two trials in the state's case against Kenneth Powell, a Pennsville, Salem County, man who was charged with vicarious liability in the 2000 drunken driving death of 22-year-old Navy Ensign John Elliott.
Powell was not driving the car that struck Elliott head-on in the early morning hours of July 22, 2000. It was being driven by Powell's best friend, Michael Pangle, whom Powell picked up from the State Police Bridgeton Barracks about an hour before the fatal crash.
Pangle had been charged with drunken driving after a night of heavy drinking at two go-go bars in Cumberland County. After Powell picked up Pangle from the police station, he drove his friend back to the intoxicated man's car. Pangle drove about 10 miles before causing the accident in which he also was instantly killed. Both trials against Powell ended with hung juries. Forester presided over them both, and they were covered gavel-to-gavel by national television outlets.
Forester said Tuesday that working in Salem and Cumberland counties has been a rewarding professional challenge. He also said it was an added privilege to work with his fellow jurists, whom he described as industrious.
"The judges are hardworking," he said. "They really are. This is a very productive vicinage."
As for his post-retirement life, Forester said he wasn't yet committed to any particular plan of action.
"I'm not going to make any decision on that until the fall," Forester said. "I might even come back on recall if Judge Curio asked me to do that. Immediately, I'm not going to say yes to anything and I'm not going to say no to anything. I'll have plenty to keep me busy with just normal activities."
Spending time with his wife, Nancy - who also recently retired from her career as executive director of the Cumberland County library system - and his two sons, Matthew and Michael, were at the top of the list, he added.
Another thing to which Forester admitted he was looking forward to was traveling to watch baseball games. Trips to Chicago to catch the Cubs and White Sox, he said, and possibly jaunts to New York to see the new Yankees stadium, were definite possibilities.
"Maybe even a few others while I'm in the vacation mode," Forester added.
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Posted in Cumberland on Wednesday, July 1, 2009 10:40 pm
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