Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam, 65, the first African-American woman appointed to New York’s highest court has been found dead on the shore of the Hudson River off Manhattan.
Police say the body of the appeals court judge was discovered at 2 p.m. on Wednesday a day after she was reported missing.
The cause of death is to be determined by the medical examiner, though Police say her body showed no obvious signs of trauma.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who appointed Abdus-Salaam to the state’s Court of Appeals in 2013, called her a “pioneer” and a “trailblazing jurist.”
“As the first African-American woman to be appointed to the state’s Court of Appeals, she was a pioneer,” Cuomo said. “Through her writings, her wisdom and her unshakable moral compass, she was a force for good whose legacy will be felt for years to come.”
The state’s Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said Abdus-Salaam will be “missed deeply.”
“Her personal warmth, uncompromising sense of fairness and bright legal mind were an inspiration to all of us who had the good fortune to know her,” DiFiore said.
Former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said he knew Abdus-Salaam for many years. He said her death of was “difficult to understand.”
“The court has suffered a terrible blow,” he said.
Abdus-Salaam started her career as a staff attorney for East Brooklyn Legal Services after she received her law degree from Columbia Law School. She served as a judge in Manhattan state Supreme Court for 14 years, according to the state Office of Court Administration’s website.
The president of the New York State Bar Association, Claire P. Gutekunst, said Abdus-Salaam grew up poor in a family of seven children in Washington, D.C., and “rose to become one of the seven judges in New York’s highest court, where her intellect, judicial temperament and wisdom earned her wide respect.”
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