Thomas Hughes, Jr. loved Riverdale, law

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Thomas Hughes, Jr., a longtime Kingsbridge and Riverdale resident who had a distinguished career in criminal justice, died on Dec. 2.

Mr. Hughes grew up on Irwin Avenue “when it was a country road,” according to his wife Eileen Hughes. He went on to study at Fordham University and then New York University School of Law.

During Mr. Hughes’ 54-year career as a lawyer, he served as assistant district attorney with the Homicide Bureau in Manhattan and as secretary to Hon. Judge John Murtagh in the State Supreme Court.

A member of a family of lawyers, Mr. Hughes always drove to the private practice where he worked on Duane Street in Manhattan until he became too ill, according to Ms. Hughes. Mr. Hughes’ colleagues at O’Dwyer & Bernstein, LLP remembered him as “a model and inspiration to the lawyers of the firm, an ‘old school’ lawyer in the best sense: unfailingly courteous, affable, collegial, constant to his word, with legal acumen second to none.”

Mr. and Ms. Hughes were married for over 50 years. 

He also is survived by his son Timothy Hughes and his wife Michelle Hughes; daughter Maureen McAloon and her husband Jim McAloon; and grandchildren Evan, Quinn and Jackson Hughes and Sean, Kate, Colleen and Rory McAloon.

Funeral mass was held on Dec. 5 at St. Margaret of Cortona Church and burial took place at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Valhall, New York. 

His family said donations to the Mayo Foundation for the Handicapped, where Mr. Hughes was longtime director, would be appreciated.

Thomas Hughes, obituaries