James F Gill

was born in Waterbury, Connecticut on September 4, 1931, he was 86 years old. He moved to New York City in 1950. He graduated Holy Cross College in 1953 and Fordham Law School in 1956. He was heavily involved in Fordham Law School affairs throughout his legal career. Upon graduation from Law School he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and served as a legal officer at Quantico, Virginia before joining the staff of Frank S. Hogan as an Assistant District Attorney of New York County. Following his service with Mr. Hogan, Mr. Gill joined the firm of Robinson Silverman and Pearce, which later merged into the firm of Bryan Cave. He was a partner in those firms for more than 50 years. As a young lawyer, he represented unions and related funds; tried cases and argued appeals. During the Cold War, he went to Moscow to represent Yosef Begun, a "refusenik" who had been incarcerated for applying to leave the Soviet Union to take up residence in Israel. In 1977, he represented the estate of actress Joan Crawford when her will was contested by her children. Over time, he became deeply involved in public service and philanthropic pursuits. In 1989, Mayor Edward I. Koch appointed him Chair of a commission which investigated corruption and wrong doing in the New York City public school system. The commission received extensive media attention and effectuated numerous reforms. In 1990, Mr. Gill became the Chairman of Group Health Incorporated (GHI) which provides medical benefits for over two million New Yorkers. When GHI joined with Health Insurance Plan (HIP) he was named Vice Chair of the Board and a member of the Governance Committee of EmblemHealth, the successor company which provides combined medical benefits for over three million covered members. In 1992, Cardinal O'Connor asked him to serve as General Counsel to the Board of Trustees of St. Patrick's Cathedral and soon became a friend and advisor to the Cardinal. He had the same relationships with Cardinals Egan and Dolan. When George Pataki became Governor of New York, he appointed Mr. Gill to numerous governmental positions. In 1995, he appointed Mr. Gill as acting director of the Governor's Office of Employee Relations. Mr. Gill held that job for 90 days during which he negotiated the State's contracts with the unions that represented the State's 230,000 work force. He was then appointed as the Chair of the Governor's Judicial Screening Panel for the Appellate Division First Department and the Chairman of the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA). Governor Pataki then appointed Mr. Gill as Chair of the Battery Park City Authority. Where he served from 1996 until 2010, during which time, residential, recreational, green, cultural spaces and buildings were developed in a manner which attracted national attention. During his tenure. Battery Party City rebounded from the 9/11 attacks. In 2003. the Governor appointed Mr. Gill to the board of directors charged with the responsibility of developing Governors Island. Subsequently, he was asked to serve as the Chair of the Board's Planning Committee. He served all of his governmental assignments pro bono. Mr. Gill was the Founding Chair of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and served three terms as Chair from 1996 to 2005. During that time, the Foundation supported the performing arts, environmental preservation and medical research in substantial ways. During his tenure, the Foundation was in the forefront of the effort to combat AIDS in South Africa. Thereafter he served on the Foundation's Governance Committee. Mr. Gill was the founding and only Chair of the Hogan-Morgenthau Associates, an organization made up of former assistant DA's of New York County who served under Messrs. Hogan, Morgenthau and Vance. Mr. Gill received many awards including, the John Cardinal O'Connor Award for Extraordinary Service from Cardinal Dolan in 2014. He was made a Knight of Malta by Cardinal O'Connor and a Knight of St. Gregory the Great by Pope Benedict XVI. He was also a much sought after speaker, well known for his wit. He was the author of a book on public speaking entitled, "Speaking of Gill." He also wrote a book for his grandchildren entitled, "For James and Gillian" and a third book entitled, “Rambling with Gill." His last book entitled. "What I Said Was" is a compilation of 23 of his speeches which was published in 2014. That book was made part of the permanent collection in the library of The Honorable Society of King's Inns in 2015. He brought Ed Koch into his law firm when he left the mayoralty and counted Koch and former Senator Al D'Amato among his closest friends. He is survived by his wife Jacqueline, his daughter, Rose Gill Hearn, who served as the Commissioner of Investigation of the City of New York under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, his sons Patrick and Dennis, son-in-law, Frank Hearn, his daughter-in-law, Nanci Gill and his three grandchildren James and Gillian Hearn and Julia Gill. Family will receive Wednesday from 2-4pm to 6-9pm at Frank E. Campbell "The Funeral Chapel" Madison Ave at (81st) New York, Funeral Mass on Thursday at 10 a.m. at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Interment to follow Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven, Hawthorne, NY. In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to the Feerick Center for Social Justice.