Andre A. Gelinas

Retired Massachusetts Appeals Court Justice Andre A. Gelinas, Sr., died on October 30, 2026, at the age of 88, surrounded by the love of his family. He was born September 11, 1938, in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, the son of A. Andre and Lina (Grammont) Gelinas. He is survived by his wife, Renalde (Lamothe) Gelinas; his five children, Todd Riikonen-Gelinas, Mark Gelinas and his wife, To, Michele Gelinas Arthur and her husband, Gordon, Andre A. Gelinas Jr., Nicole M. Gelinas and her partner, Gordon Miller; and his nine grandchildren: Annikki, Raisa, and Leo Riikonen; My Linh and Max Gelinas; Amelia, Scott, and Cade Arthur; and Andre M. Gelinas.

Judge Gelinas graduated from St. Bernard’s High School in Fitchburg, Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, and the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He attended L’Institut Catholique de Paris in Paris, France. In 1983, Assumption College awarded Judge Gelinas an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. He was a founding member and chair of the Council of the French Institute at Assumption College. He was the recipient of the Assumption College Alumni Association’s Distinguished Achievement Award and the French Institute’s Award of Merit.

Following graduation from law school, he joined the firm of Gelinas & Ward in Fitchburg, where he practiced law until 1979. While at Gelinas & Ward, he founded Guaranty Title and Abstract Co., Inc., and served as a director of the Fidelity Cooperative Bank and the Safety Fund National Bank, as a corporator of the Worcester North Savings Institution, and as legal counsel to the I-C Credit Union.

Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Gelinas served under Eliot Richardson as a special assistant attorney general in the Eminent Domain Division. He was a member of the Governor’s Special Commission of Correction Alternatives, chairing its Substance Abuse Committee, and a member of the Governor’s Commission on the Legal and Civil Rights of the Developmentally Disabled.

Appointed a special justice of the Fitchburg District Court in 1973, Judge Gelinas’ career in the judiciary included service as justice of the Fitchburg District Court, presiding justice of the Fitchburg District Court, and justice of the District Court Appellate Division. He served as a District Court regional administrative justice, co-chair of the Courts’ Information Technology Advisory Committee, a member of the Massachusetts State Judicial Council, a member and vice-chair of the Jury Management Advisory Committee, and a member of the Brooke Courthouse construction committee.

In 1999, he was appointed an associate justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court in Boston. He served on the John Adams Courthouse construction committee, the Appellate Courts’ Bench-Bar Committee, and the Committee to Implement the Monan Commission Report, and as chair of the Appellate Court’s Information Technology Committee.

Judge Gelinas received the St. Thomas More “Red Mass” Distinguished Jurist Award from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester and the Distinguished Jurist Award from the Murray Inn of Court. In 2009, the Fitchburg District Courthouse was renamed the Gelinas Courthouse by an act of the Massachusetts Legislature, honoring the service to the bar and judiciary of Judge Gelinas and his father, A. Andre Gelinas, who had served as a special justice of the court in the 1930s and as district attorney for Worcester County from 1952 to 1958.

A longtime member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, Judge Gelinas served as chair of the Judicial Administration Section. He also served as a trustee of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation and chair of its Investment Committee.

Judge Gelinas was a trustee of the former Burbank Hospital in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, from 1972 to 1998, serving for most of those years as chair of the board and on numerous hospital board committees. He was chair at the time of the merger of Burbank Hospital with Leominster Hospital, resulting in the HealthAlliance Health Care System. Judge Gelinas then served as chair of the HealthAlliance board of trustees at the time of its merger with Worcester’s UMass-Memorial Healthcare system, which achieved, among other benefits, the Sinon-Simonds Cancer Center on the HealthAlliance Burbank Campus.

Judge Gelinas was a trustee of the Fitchburg Art Museum from 1967 to 2001 and again from 2007 to 2009. During his tenure, he served on numerous committees and twice as president of the museum.

Judge Gelinas served as a member and chair of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester School Committee and as a member and chair of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester Board of Education. He was a member and chair of St. Bernard’s High School Advisory Board and a member and chair of the Julie Country Day School Board of Directors. He and his wife, Renalde, a longtime teacher and director of development at Julie Country Day School, were awarded the Worcester Diocese’s Seton Award.

Judge Gelinas chaired the Mayor’s Committee on School Building Needs, resulting in the recommendation to build the Fitchburg High School campus in North Fitchburg. He served as a Fitchburg State College President’s Circle member and as an incorporator, trustee, and officer of Fitchburg’s Applewild School. He served for twenty-five years as a trustee of Cushing Academy, where he chaired the Finance and Nominating Committees and twice gave the graduation address. Cushing honored Judge Gelinas with the Crystal Lion Award at graduation ceremonies in 2001. At Fitchburg State College’s 1992 graduation ceremonies, he was given the Community Leadership Award. He received the Outstanding Public Service Award from Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School and the Distinguished Service Award from the Dr. Franklin Perkins School. He was a Life Fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation and received the Community Service Leadership Award from the North Central Massachusetts Minority Coalition.

Judge Gelinas was a founding trustee and officer of the George R. Wallace Jr. Civic Center. He was named a Civic Center Hall of Honor inaugural inductee in 1995. He also served as a director or trustee of the Fitchburg Chapter of the American Red Cross; the Fitchburg In-Town Revitalization Committee; the Homemaker Home Health Aid Service; the Massachusetts Hospital Association; the Micah Housing Corporation; the Nashua Valley Council, Inc., Boy Scouts of America; the United Fund of Greater Fitchburg, Inc.; and Woodstock Street Academy.

Judge Gelinas was a member of The Tavern Club in Boston and the Orleans Yacht Club in Orleans and had been a member of the Nisi Prius Club, the Murray Inn of Court, the Fay Club, and the Oak Hill Country Club in Fitchburg.

After mandatory retirement from the bench, Judge Gelinas worked for the Massachusetts Courts’ Judicial Information Services department, coordinating the implementation of its electronic filing project. In more recent years, he was working part-time as a senior advisor in the Wealth Management Department of Rollstone Bank and Trust and was serving as a trustee of the George R. Wallace Jr. Foundation and the Douglas and Isabel Crocker Foundation.

Nickerson Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements. Honoring Andre’s wishes, there will be no formal services or calling hours. A private burial will be held with his family. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Fitchburg Historical Society.