Richard Kessler

Richard Fuld Kessler, 90, of Horsham, Pa., died Nov. 10, 2012. Born in Newark, he also had lived in Maplewood from 1952 to 1985, in South Orange from 1985 until 2008, and in Doylestown, Pa., for 18 months.

Mr. Kessler practiced law with the firm Kessler and Kessler in Newark from 1948 until 1984 and thereafter as a sole practitioner.  He was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1956. He was owner/manager/president of King Solomon Memorial Park, Cresthaven Cemetery Association, and West Ridge Lawn Cemetery from 1980 until his death.

He attended Cornell University for two and a half years prior to enlisting in the U.S. Army. He graduated from Rutgers University Law School in 1948.

He was a veteran of three years of service in World War II, serving with the U.S. Army in its Fourth Infantry Division. He participated in the D-Day landing in France on June 6, 1944, and thereafter served as a staff sergeant with the Military Intelligence Service in both France and Germany. He was a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars.

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He was a former member of the board of directors and executive committee of the Trust Company of New Jersey. He was a member of the Essex County and New Jersey state bar associations.

Active in United Jewish Appeal since 1949 and one of the founders of the Young Men’s Service Group, he was the first co-recipient of the Julius and Bessie Cohn Leadership Award in 1957. He was a past member of the board of trustees of Jewish Community Federation of Metropolitan New Jersey, past president of the board of trustees of The Jewish News (now NJ Jewish News), past secretary and member of the board of trustees of the Upper New Jersey chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and a member of Essex County Highway Right-of-Way Commission from August 1965 to December 1967. He served as Assistant Parliamentarian to the New Jersey Assembly, 1962-63, was former vice president and member of the board of directors of YM-YWHA of Essex County, former president of the Maplewood Democratic Club, and a Democratic Committeeman from the Eighth District in Maplewood for 13 years. He was former chair and treasurer of the Maplewood Democratic County Committee.

Predeceased by his first wife, Natalie Finkelstein, in 1984, and his second wife, Joanne Glaubach, in 2002, he is survived by two daughters, Jane E. Kessler of Solebury, Pa., and Patricia Kessler of Hillsborough; two stepchildren, Marjorie O’Malley and Michael Glaubach; three grandchildren; three stepgrandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Services were held Nov. 11 with arrangements by Eden Memorial Chapels, Fort Lee. Memorial contributions may be made to Abramson Center for Jewish Life, 1425 Horsham Road, North Wales, PA 19454.