February 10, 2015 - It is with sadness that Connell Foley LLP announces the passing of Adrian M. “Bud” Foley Jr., one of the firm’s most beloved and respected partners, on February 9, 2015.
During his six-decade legal career, Mr. Foley was recognized as one of the leading New Jersey trial lawyers, spanning a spectrum of practices and covering major civil as well as criminal cases. He was once described in a New York Times article as an attorney “who generally turns up on one side or the other in all major legal disputes affecting New Jersey.”
“Bud Foley made our firm what it is today,” said Michael X. McBride, managing partner of Connell Foley. “He was a friend and mentor to everyone here, and a wonderfully gifted attorney respected throughout the legal community. He cared tremendously for his clients and colleagues and will be greatly missed by all who knew him.”
Mr. Foley joined the firm after serving as Essex County Surrogate from 1954 to 1958. Active in all facets of the organized bar, he served as the youngest president of the New Jersey Bar Association from 1964 - 1965, and in 1966 was elected president of the State of New Jersey’s Fourth Constitutional Convention. He was one of the first chairmen of the ABA Section on Litigation and chairman of the ABA Initial Commission on Advertising. Mr. Foley was the state delegate for the State of New Jersey in the House of Delegates of the ABA and was a member of the Board of Governors of the ABA and chairman of programs of that Board. He served as director of the American Judicature Society and was a permanent delegate to the Third Circuit Judicial Conference. He also served as commissioner of the Select Committee on Constitutional Convention and chairman of the Commission to Revise the Insurance laws of New Jersey, a five-man commission establishing the State’s position on the death penalty.
Mr. Foley tried numerous cases in the appellate courts, both state and federal, and in the New Jersey Supreme Court, where he upheld the constitutionality of New Jersey’s first general tax, the Sales and Use Tax. In another New Jersey Supreme Court decision, he represented the State of New York in a dispute between the State of New York and State of New Jersey resulting in a judgment holding the New Jersey “commuter tax” to be unconstitutional. And in a landmark decision, he succeeded in obtaining a Supreme Court Judgment mandating a reversal of an election result that had deposed the mayor and the entire governing body of Atlantic City, New Jersey. This case was one of the first decisions in the country upholding the sanction provisions of the “Sunshine Law.”
In acknowledgment of his contributions to the practice of law, Mr. Foley was honored by the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in the Law, receiving the Justice Daniel J. O’Hern Award in Recognition of “Commitment to Professionalism, Outstanding Career Achievement and Service to the Bar."
Mr. Foley served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Prudential Insurance Company, serving as chairman of the Finance Committee for 15 years. He was appointed by Governor Richard J. Hughes as the president of the Constitutional Convention in 1966. In addition, he was appointed by Governor William Cahill to be the first secretary-treasurer of the newly created New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and was instrumental in raising the $302 million to permit the construction of Giants Stadium and the Meadowlands Racetrack.
Mr. Foley was the first recipient of the All University Award granted by Seton Hall University. He was also first recipient of the Saint Benedict’s Prep Medal and was elected to that school’s Athletic Hall of Fame. A member of the Knights of Malta, he received a Medal of Service from the Archdiocese of Newark. He was also a Commander of the Knights of Saint Gregory and a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre.
Mr. Foley graduated cum laude from Seton Hall University in 1943, and received a LL.B. from Columbia University School of Law in 1947. He was awarded an honorary Ph.D. from St. Peter’s College - the Jesuit College of New Jersey.
As a B-24 Navigator in the United States Army Air Corp, Mr. Foley flew 39 missions over the Mediterranean, Balkan and European Theaters. A First Lieutenant in World War II, Mr. Foley was awarded the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters, Presidential Unit Citation with two oak leaf clusters, and five battle stars for support action in the European Theater.