Obituary of Thomas Edward Clancy

Thomas Edward Clancy, died on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. He was born in Orange NJ and spent his formative years in Bloomfield NJ. A 1957 graduate of Bloomfield High School, he was a member of the football, basketball and baseball teams. Upon graduation he was awarded John Lobel Award for outstanding Scholar/Athlete. He declined an offer to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league team and instead accepted a four year scholarship to St Peters College in Jersey City NJ. In his senior year he was elected class president. He then enrolled in Rutgers Law School in Newark, financing his education in the summer months as a bus driver for Public Service with daily trips to the Port Authority Terminal in NYC. In law school, he served as Chairman of the Legal Aid Society and Vice President of his senior class. After receiving his Doctor of Law, he accepted a position with the FBI as a Special Agent serving in Tampa and St Petersburg Florida before being sent to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey CA to study Chinese Mandarin. He served in the FBI for five years before returning to NJ to begin private law practice for ten years. In 1979 he began service as a NJ State Administrative Law Judge and was the Administrative Law Assignment Judge for all of North Jersey the last 17 of his 27 year tenure as a Judge. At the time of his death, he was on "recall" as a Judge two or three times a month. He was a member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the NJ State Board of Mediation, the NJ State Bar Association, and the Somerset County Bar Association. In 1964 he married Margaret Anne Butler of Pittsburgh PA and together with their two children established a new home in Bound Brook NJ in 1971. He was so proud of his children, Sean M. Clancy of Ventnor NJ, a Detective Sergeant with the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office and Kelly M. Clancy of Santa Barbara CA, owner of TriDivas. His interest and enjoyment included fluency in Chinese-Mandarin, sketching, painting, calligraphy, golf, fantasy football, wordsmithing, and seeing movies with his Academy Awards Addicted sweetheart of 44 years. A communicant at the Catholic Community of St Matthias in Somerset NJ, he was a member of the adult choir. His musical interest recently included taking lessons in the Bohran, an Irish drum, and was so proud to have played at his wife's recent family reunion in Philadelphia PA. He is predeceased by his parents, William and Mabel Clancy, and brothers William and Steven. In addition to his wife and children, Tom will be sadly missed by his brother Edward T Clancy and wife Doris of West Caldwell NJ, beloved brother-in-law of Rita Randal, Jim and Bonnie Butler of Pittsburgh PA, Tom and Karen Butler of Cape Cod, Diane Clancy of Powhatten VA. He was a beloved uncle to 14 nieces and nephews, and 9 great nieces in nephews who preferred to call him Uncle Craze.