Justice Joseph J. Kunzeman was born around the year 1928 and educated at Queens College and St. John’s University Law School, graduating in 1952. He also went on to earn a Doctor of Laws degree in 1985 from St. John’s University. From 1965 until 1972, he served as a New York State Assemblyman for Queens County. He also served as Chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Consumer Protection.
Kunzeman served as a Supreme Court Justice in Queens from 1972 through 1985, when he was designated to the Appellate Division, Second Department. Following his retirement from the bench in 1992, he held the position of Special Counsel for the New York State Senate Rules Committee. From 1992 until 2005, he worked at the firm of Stanley R. Waxman, P.C. Beginning in 2005, he was General Counsel and head of the Appellate Practice Unit at the law firm of Philip J. Rizzuto, P.C. He has also worked as a hearing officer for National Arbitration and Mediation (NAM).
Justice Kunzeman was an Adjunct Professor at St. John’s School of Law from 1975 until 1992. His numerous memberships in professional organizations included the New York State, Queens County and Nassau County Bar Associations. He served on the Executive Board of the New York State Supreme Court Justices Association and was a founder and President of the New York City Association of Supreme Court Justices. Kunzeman was Chairman of the Queens County Jury Board and served on the Temporary State Commission on the Modernization and Revision of Appellate Justice.
He died on May 2, 2008 at the age of 80.
Sources
“Hearing Officer Resume: Hon. Joseph J. Kunzeman.” National Arbitration and Mediation, 2010. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. http://www.namadr.com/ho_resume.cfm?jcode=86.
“Hon. Joseph J. Kunzeman, J.S.C. (Ret.).” Philip J. Rizzuto, Attorney at Law, 2005. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. http://www.rizzutolaw.com/html/apjr.php.
“Joseph F. Kunzeman.” New York Law Journal 6 May 2008, Obituary sec. Print.