Joseph E. Irenas ’62

Joe died Oct. 16, 2015, after a fall.

He came to us from the Pingry School and was a scholarship student there and at Princeton. Active in WPRB, he dined at Campus Club and majored in the Woodrow Wilson School. Joe roomed with Doug Nadeau, Jack Myers, Bob Medina, and Don McCulloch.

After earning a law degree from Harvard, he clerked for Justice Haydn Proctor and then joined McCarter & English, where he became a partner. Loyal to our class, he was our president from 1987 to 1992 and generously hosted reunion-planning meetings at the Nassau Club, where he also enjoyed his weekly poker games.

Joe became a federal judge in 1992 and was still sitting on the bench of the District Court of New Jersey’s Camden vicinage when his accident occurred. Fellow judges said that he loved both large and small cases. They also marveled at his work ethic in spite of undergoing dialysis three times a week. Joe had a special relationship with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor ’76, who came over to greet Joe and his wife, Nancy, on Alumni Day in 2014.

The class offers its condolences to Nancy, his wife since 1962 and friend since sixth grade; children Amy and Ted; and his grandchildren.