Stanley C. Van Ness
Stanley Carlton Van Ness was born in Somerville, New Jersey, in 1933, graduated cum laude from Rutgers University, and subsequently served five years in the Air Force, attaining the rank of captain. He graduated with honors from Rutgers School of Law in 1963, became an assistant United States attorney in the District of New Jersey, and served as counsel to Governor Richard J. Hughes for two years before being chosen to head the public defender's office in 1969. In 1974, when Governor Brendan T. Byrne created the Department of the Public Advocate, Van Ness was chosen to head the department. It was the first of its kind in the country, and, with this appointment, Van Ness became the third African American to reach cabinet-level status in New Jersey.
In the words of the Honorable Laura Lehrich LeWinn, former deputy director of the New Jersey Division of Mental Health, "Stanley Van Ness was the only obvious choice to head this department, and it turned out to be a most prescient and beneficial choice on many levels."
Contentious issues pursued by the department included withholding government funds from nursing homes that failed to meet state standards and requiring shoreline municipalities to open their beaches to the public. In 1975, his office filed suit against the Boy Scouts of America after four troop members with muscular dystrophy were denied promotion to Eagle Scout because they could not earn merit badges in swimming and lifesaving. The move ultimately led to the adoption of revised guidelines by the Boy Scouts of America National Council allowing physically challenged scouts to meet alternative requirements.
Among the most memorable cases for Carl Bisgaier, former director of Camden Regional Legal Services (CRLS), who later worked in the public advocate's office under Van Ness, were the Mt. Laurel low-income housing zoning cases. Bisgaier had spearheaded the effort while at CRLS and led the effort in the public advocate's office as well. He describes it as "a bombshell"—when the public advocate sued 27 municipalities in Morris County, adding that Van Ness never wavered in his support for the staff. "Whatever was going on in the cabinet, and whatever the governor was thinking, and whatever pushback they were getting from municipalities … Stanley just handled it all."
Cynthia Jacob, LSNJ Board of Trustees chair, and former attorney under Van Ness in the public defender's office, echos that sentiment, saying, "Stanley was without 26 NJEJLA Circle of Honor question the best boss I ever had." With regard to the political challenges, she adds, "He was right in there picking cases that were not popular but needed to be decided. And many of the cases that the public advocate did fed directly into what Legal Services has come to do."
"He really occupies a special place in the history of New Jersey," says the Honorable Joseph H. Rodriguez, who succeeded Van Ness as public advocate.
Upon leaving the public advocate office in 1982, Van Ness joined the private law firm Herbert, Van Ness, Cayci and Goodell in Princeton, becoming a partner in 1998. He was also a law professor at Seton Hall Law School, an adjunct professor at Rutgers University and Thomas Edison State College, and a lecturer for the Carnegie Mellon Series at the University of Pittsburgh.
Stanley Van Ness died in September 2007 at the age of 73, but "… his legacy continues through all of us who knew him and loved him," says LSNJ Board of Trustees first vice chairperson and former Van Ness student, Karol Corbin Walker. "And it will continue forever."
Awards
Defender of Justice Award (National Conference for Community and Justice)
Thurgood Marshall Award (Seton Hall Law School)
Distinguished Alumnus Award (Rutgers University)
Richard Hughes Career Public Service Award (Legal Services of New Jersey)
Lifetime Achievement Award (The Urban League)
Light of Hope Award (Catholic Charities of Monmouth County)
Affiliations
Board of Trustees, Mount St. Mary's College