Morris (Mickey) Stern
Title: Bankruptcy
Born: 1941
Birth Place: Newark, NJ
Died: 2014
Place of Death: Millburn, NJ
Born in 1941 in Newark, NJ, Judge Stern received his undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering from Lafayette College in 1962. In 1965, Judge Stern earned his J.D. with honors from Rutgers University, where he was an editor of the Law Review and Dean Award’s recipient. From 1966-1968, Judge Stern was on active duty as a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps. In 1975, he received his Master of Laws to New York University School of Law.
Judge Stern spent time working both in the public and private legal sectors, clerking to the Hon. Robert A Matthews of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division and partnered at Stern Dubrow & Marcus PC for thirty years, specializing in commercial litigation and transactions. During this time, Judge Stern was also an adjunct and visiting professor at Rutgers University School of Law, teaching bankruptcy and commercial law on a regular basis, as well as a participant in the school’s Bankruptcy Project, where volunteer attorneys work with students to provide pro bono bankruptcy representation to low-income individuals.
Judge Stern served on the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey, sitting in Newark, NJ, from 2001 until his passing in 2014 in Millburn, NJ, due to liver cancer. Judge Stern presided over the bankruptcy cases for Bayonne Medical Center and for St. Mary’s Hospital in Passaic, NJ. He also handled the bankruptcy of Real Housewives star Teresa Giudice in 2010.
Judge Stern was a public member of the New Jersey Insurance Underwriting Association (New Jersey Fair Plan), chair of the Supreme Court of New Jersey’s District Ethics Committee, commissioner of the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority, and a member of the editorial board of the New Jersey Law Journal.
In his personal life, Judge Stern was a leader in his community. He was a member of the Maplewood Township Planning Board and an elected member of the Township Committee, where he was the facilitator of the Maplewood Jitney Program and an early proponent of the Springfield Avenue police station. Stern was married to his wife Ronnie of 51 years and had three children, Benjamin (who predeceased Stern in 2005), Matthew, Ilene and three grandchildren at the time of his death.
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