Anyone who knew him would have a hard time summing up the man, the mind, the force of life that was Judge Norman A. Mordue. He literally lived multiple lives in different times and places. Judge Mordue is the kind of person they make movies about. He had an uncommon ability to instantaneously assess people and a situation in a courtroom setting and know exactly how to do his job whether as a prosecutor or Judge. His intelligence, integrity, reasonableness, and humor were ideals I have tried to bring to my work on a daily basis.
He had “true grit,” and he exhibited it in every aspect of his life from early childhood in Elmira to the athletic fields of his hometown, Syracuse University, where he was a standout football player, to the battlefields of Vietnam where he was a fearless leader and nearly sacrificed his own life to save others, to the rehabilitation hospital back stateside where he had to learn to walk again and recover from his grievous wounds, to the many courtrooms where he battled as a prosecutor and obtained murder convictions on behalf of the People, and finally, to the benches of County Court, Supreme Court, District Court where he meted out justice to citizens all over the state.
It was the honor and blessing of my lifetime to work for the Judge – to know and love him and consider him part of my family. Judge Norman A. Mordue was one of the finest, most exceptional human beings I have ever known, and it’s unimaginable he is no longer with us.