William B. McGuire Esq.

William B. McGuire, Esq. Trial attorney and senior law partner influential in N.J. legal circles since 1960s; recognized for leadership and expertise by Federal Bar of N.J., Seton Hall University and Law School, and trial bar, among many others; served as trustee of St. Barnabas, Delbarton School and St. Peter's University, 86 William B. McGuire, Esq., 86, passed away on Wednesday, May 13, 2015. His family will receive friends and relatives at the Quinn-Hopping Funeral Home of Livingston, 145 E. Mt. Pleasant Ave., on Friday (today) from 4 to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 3 to 6 p.m. Everyone is invited on Monday directly to Christ the King Church, 16 Blue Mill Rd., New Vernon, N.J., where the Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 10 a.m. The entombment service will follow at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, East Hanover, N.J. William B. McGuire was born in 1929 and raised in Newark, N.J., where he attended Sacred Heart Cathedral Grammar School and Our Lady of Good Counsel High School. He then matriculated at Fordham University, where he received a bachelor of science degree in accounting in 1950. Bill was in service with the U.S. Army until 1953, when he enrolled as a night student at Seton Hall Law School. He received his bachelor of laws degree in 1958. He then attended New York University and received a master of laws degree in taxation in 1963. Bill was employed at Hanover Fire Insurance Company following his graduation from Fordham until 1958, when he left his position as chief accountant for Hanover to join the Newark firm of Lum Fairlie & Foster. Bill was an assistant prosecutor in Essex County under Prosecutor (later Governor) Brendan T. Byrne in 1964 to 1965. He was a senior partner at Lum, Biunno & Tompkins (the successor firm to Lum, Fairlie & Foster) until Dec. 31, 1983. He and other attorneys formed Tompkins, McGuire & Wachenfeld in 1984, which changed its name to Tompkins, McGuire, Wachenfeld & Barry LLP in 1998. Bill was admitted to practice before the bars of New Jersey and New York as well as the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He was certified as a civil trial attorney by the New Jersey Supreme Court Board on Trial Attorney Certification. Bill received many awards over the years, including the prestigious Hon. William J. Brennan Jr. Award given by the Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey in 1997. Seton Hall University presented him with the first Thomas More Award in 1986 and the Law School named him its "Distinguished Alumnus of the Year" in 1984. Bill received the Trial Bar Award for Distinguished Service presented by the Trial Attorneys of New Jersey in 1984 and the Debevoise-Eakley Award in 1995 from Legal Services in New Jersey. Bill was listed in "Who's Who in the World" and "Who's Who in American Law" for decades. By vote of his peers, he was listed, from its inception, in "The Best Lawyers in America." Bill was a longtime member of the Essex County Bar Association, where he served as a trustee and officer, becoming its president in 1975 to 1976. He was also a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association, where he was a trustee and officer before becoming its president in 1994 to 1995. Bill was president of the New Jersey State Bar Foundation in 1988 to 1989 and he was president of the Association of the Federal Bar of the District of New Jersey between 1985 and 1987. Bill was elected a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1974. He was vice president of the Trial Attorneys of New Jersey from 1978 to 1980. He was elected a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers in 1987 and a diplomate of the American Board of Trial Advocates in 1985. He became a fellow of the American Bar Foundation in 1985 and served as the New Jersey state chair from 1995 to 2000. Bill served on the Standing Committee on Lawyer Professional Liability of the American Bar Association from 1997 to 2003. He was a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel, the Federation of Insurance and Corporate Counsel, the Maritime Law Association of the United States, and the Defense Research Institute. Bill was a member of the board of trustees of St. Barnabas Medical Center and also of the St. Barnabas Corporation. He was chair of the board of trustees of Irvington General Hospital. He served for many years on the lay board of trustees of the Delbarton School as well as on the board of trustees and board of regents at Saint Peter's University. Bill was an active Knight of Malta. He was also a longtime member and past president of the Essex County Country Club. Bill was predeceased by his first wife, Joan (Glinane); his son, James C. Hylind, and his grandson, Timothy Hylind. He is survived by his wife, Lois (Winnberg); devoted children, Jo Ellen Hylind, Ralph Hylind and wife Barbara; Keith Hylind and wife Penny, and Grant W. McGuire and wife Karen, and his grandchildren, Sean and Robyn Hylind, Daniel Ross and Bridget and William McGuire. He is also survived by Lois' sons, Jeff Farrell and his wife, Lynn, and their children, Sean, Erin, Megan and Chelsea, and Mike Farrell and his wife, Jodie, and their sons, Wyatt, Bradley, Ryan and Michael. In lieu of flowers, friends are asked to consider a donation in Bill's memory to the Catholic charity of their choice or to the The Children's Institute, One Sunset Ave., Verona, N.J. 07044, (tcischool.org).