Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Noach Dear Dies From Coronavirus

NEW YORK CITY — Noach Dear, a Brooklyn Supreme Court justice and former City Council member, died from novel coronavirus Sunday, according to officials and reports. He was 66.

"Awful, numbing news," wrote Council Member Kalman Yeger, Dear's predecessor in representing Midwood and Borough Park. "His lifelong public service touched many thousands."

Dear represented Brooklyn's District 44 from 1983 until 2001 and was elected to the Brooklyn Supreme Court in 2015.

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City Council Member Brad Lander honored Dear for his work as a debt collector court judge who specialized in "swatting back attempts by loansharks" and curtailed police power by ruling against a controversial policy called the "sniff test."

"Brooklyn judge RIP Noach Dear," Lander wrote. "May his memory be for a blessing."

Son-in-law Aaron Hirtz confirmed Dear's passing to the New York Post, which also made note some dark times in the Brooklyn justice's career, such as his removal from Brooklyn Civil Court over accusations of favoritism.

"RIP Noach Dear, the rascally Boro Park politician-turned-judge who beat all the odds except this one," wrote journalist Tom Robbins.

"No matter how many tough stories we tossed his way over the years, he enjoyed the joust and kept his sense of humor."

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