We are deeply saddened to announce that our former name partner, William F. (“Bill”) Hyland passed away on March 2, 2013. Bill was an extraordinary man with many accomplishments and talents.
He was born in Burlington, New Jersey in 1923 and graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1944. During World War II he served as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy and took part in the Battle of the Atlantic, as well as the Battle of Iwo Gima and the Battle of Luzon.
Bill graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1949 and was admitted to the New Jersey Bar the same year. He was long involved in Democratic politics in Camden County and was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1954, and served as Speaker of the Assembly in 1958. Bill resigned from the Assembly in 1961 when he was nominated by then Governor Robert B. Meyner to be the President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. Bill was actually one of Governor Meyner’s choices to succeed him as the Democratic Nominee for Governor of New Jersey in 1961, but was defeated by Richard J. Hughes.
Bill served on the Public Utilities Board until 1968 when he resigned to return to the practice of law. Later he was nominated by Governor Hughes to be the first chairman of the newly created New Jersey State Commission of Investigation which conducted extensive investigations of organized crime in New Jersey.
In December 1973, Governor elect Brendan Byrne nominated Bill as Attorney General of New Jersey, a position he held from 1974 to 1978 when he left to join our firm which then became “Riker Danzig Scherer Debevoise & Hyland.” His name has remained in the Firm name to date. Bill retired from the firm in 2006.
In addition to his extraordinary accomplishments as a politician, attorney general and lawyer, Bill was well known as an extraordinary clarinetist. In 1976 he had the opportunity to play with Benny Goodman and the two struck up a friendship. Eventually, Benny Goodman named Bill the legal and musical consultant for his estate, responsible for deciding which previously unreleased recordings were appropriate for release. Upon Mr. Goodman’s death in 1986, Bill served as executor of his estate. Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti continues to be counsel to his estate.
Bill will be deeply missed by the Firm and all of us who knew him. He truly was a great man.
