The Bergen Record
September 19, 2011
BY JUSTO BAUTISTA
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Michael R. Cole, a former chief counsel to Gov. Thomas Kean whose legal stewardship helped establish state policy on school funding and gubernatorial powers, died Saturday. He was 67.
Mr. Cole, husband of New Jersey Supreme Court Associate Justice Jaynee LaVecchia, also had been a partner in the DeCotiis, FitzPatrick & Cole law firm in Teaneck, and served in the state Attorney General's Office for eight years before Kean tapped him for chief counsel. He was a resident of Morris Township.
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of our partner Mike Cole," M. Robert DeCotiis said Sunday. "Mike was widely and deservedly admired by us and the New Jersey legal community as a person who possessed superior legal ability.
"He set a high standard for ethical responsibility and genuine decency - all qualities that we wish were more abundant in the practice of law today," DeCotiis said.
The son of a steelworker and one of seven children, Mr. Cole grew up in Roselle, graduated from St. Peter's College and for a time worked in personnel for a toy company in Elizabeth, before deciding that law might be a "pretty exciting thing to do," he said in a 2009 interview with NJN. He graduated from Rutgers University Law School, where he was notes and comments editor of the Rutgers Law Review.
He began his public career as an assistant in charge of litigation in the state Attorney General's Office during the Brendan Byrne administration.
During Kean's first term, Mr. Cole was first assistant attorney general and director of the Law Division.
As chief counsel from 1986 to 1989, Mr. Cole helped shepherd through legislation that would set state policy, including a case that allowed for the governor's budget line item veto.
He also was the administration's point man in the battle to allow the commissioner of education to take over failing school districts. "That was a monumental legislative fight," he told NJN.
Subsequently, the state took over school districts in Jersey City, Newark and Paterson.
Locally, Mr. Cole was the lead attorney for Hackensack University Medical Center's battle to reopen Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood.
Mr. Cole joined the DeCotiis firm as a partner in 1997 and became "of counsel" this year. He specialized in civil litigation and administrative law, as well as government and regulatory affairs.
"He was a very hard worker - a terrific lawyer," said Greg Bevelock, 44, a partner at DeCotiis who knew Mr. Cole since 1995. "But, also, he took a lot of interest in young lawyers like myself. He wasn't just my mentor, but a friend."
Rep. Leonard Lance, R-Hunterdon, also called Mr. Cole a mentor. "I always thought that Mike was the best lawyer in New Jersey."
In addition to his wife, the associate justice, Mr. Cole is survived by a daughter, Elyse Hill; two sisters, four brothers and a granddaughter.
This article contains material from The Star-Ledger.