10/2/2003

SURJ Adds Board Members

Stand Up for what’s Right and Just (SURJ), a statewide grassroots organization dedicated to reforming Delaware’s criminal justice system and attacking the causes of crime, announces the addition of three individuals to its board:  O. Francis Biondi, Esq., Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell; Bruce Stargatt, Esq., partner at Young, Conaway, Stargett & Taylor; and the Hon. Joseph T. Walsh, retired Delaware Supreme Court Judge.

Mr. Biondi is the recipient of the “Order of the First State” award in recognition of service to the people of Delaware, as well as the Andrew D. Christie Memorial Pro Bono Publico Award.  He has served in a wide variety of public positions, including Chairman of the Crime Reduction Task Force, Vice Chairman of the Delaware Agency to Reduce Crime, and Co-Chairman of the Commission on Delaware Courts 2000.  He has also served as President of the Delaware State Bar Association and the Delaware Bar Foundation and is currently a member of Governor Minner’s Strategic Economic Development Committee.

Mr. Stargatt is a member of the American Bar Association Board of Governors and is the recipient of the First State Distinguished Service Award.  He is the current President of the Delaware Bar Foundation and is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and American College of Trial Lawyers.  In the past, Mr. Stargatt has served as President of the Delaware State Bar Association and Chairman of the Delaware Supreme Court Rules Lawyers Advisory Committee.

Mr. Walsh recently retired as a Delaware Supreme Court Justice.  He has also served as Vice Chancellor of the Court of Chancery and as a Delaware Superior Court Judge.

All three new members are recipients of the American Judicature Society's Herbert Harley Award.

These members join fellow SURJ Board of Director members Timothy Brandau, Victor F. Battaglia, Esq., Edmund N. Carpenter, II, Esq., The Rev. Canon Lloyd S. Casson, Dr. William Delauder, Joseph M. Dell'Olio, Thomas A. Foley, Esq., Sam Lathem, Janet Leban, Marlene Lichtenstadter, Judy Mellen, Russell Peterson, Carl Schnee, Shirley Seibert, Samuel L. Shipley, Rodman Ward, Esq. and Dale E. Wolf.