Partner Hon. David Saxe (Ret.) Reflects on a Chance Meeting with the Late Chief Judge Judith Kaye in New York Law Journal

Morrison Cohen Partner Hon. David Saxe (Ret.) recently shared a personal story entitled “Grandma Judith at the Southampton Movie Theatre” in New York Law Journal, from a forthcoming book of essays depicting his life as a judge. Judge Saxe recalled running into Judge Judith Kaye, the Chief Judge of the State of New York, at a Southampton movie theater. That afternoon, he his wife, Phyllis, were having a particularly challenging time with their daughter Elana, who has cerebral palsy and cortical visual impairment and gets agitated in new places when there is a lot of noise.

Saxe, a former Associate Justice in the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, First Department, shared that not only was Judge Kaye incredibly kind to Elana at the time, but the next week, she followed up by sending a surprise package to the First Department. It contained three coloring books and a pack of crayons for Elana. The note, handwritten on personal stationery, read, “Elana, I hope you enjoy these. From Grandma Judith.”

Saxe wrote that while Judge Kaye made “wonderful contributions to the decisional law of our state and to the administration of justice generally, both Phyllis and I will always remember this wonderful woman as simply Grandma Judith.”

New York Law Journal subscribers may read the full story here.