Politics & Government

Samuel Memorialized as Passionate Champion of Causes

Former Chairman of SP Democratic Committee celebrated for his cultural, political ideals and a life of philanthropy.

Richard “Dick” Samuel, chairman emeritus of the Scotch Plains Democratic Committee and a successful patent attorney who represented the inventors of the laser and the MRI, died early Sunday morning at JFK Haven Hospice in Edison of kidney failure and other ailments. He was 71.

Samuel was a passionate participant in local, national and international politics. “Unrepentant in his liberalism,” as described by Rabbi George Nudell of during a touching eulogy delivered at Samuel’s funeral Monday, he was an active member of the Scotch Plains, Union County and National Democratic committees for more than 30 years who relished championing underdogs and speaking truth to power.

“He liked to grab the establishment by the legs and give it a good shake,” Nudell said, recalling that when Samuel first met the rabbi, he proudly told him of how he’d been arrested while protesting at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

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"Growing up, our house was always filled with political activists,” said Samuel’s daughter, Joanne. “My sister, Mimi, and I were always stuffing envelopes or hanging posters for some underdog."

Samuel’s passion for helping others permeated his work. He became a widely regarded patent attorney, representing the likes of Gordon Gould, the world-renowned physicist credited with the invention of the laser, and Raymond Damadian, who created the first device that used magnetic-resonance imaging to scan the human body for injuries and disease.

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He also applied his legal acumen to social causes, most notably women’s right to have an abortion. Based on his arguments before the New Jersey Supreme Court, the jurists overturned the New Jersey Abortion Law in 1972 and were subsequently cited by the United States Supreme Court’s decision to create the abortion rights’ ruling in the landmark Roe v. Wade case.

"Dick loved the debate,” Scotch Plains Councilman Kevin Glover said following the funeral, “and he was pretty passionate about his opinions. But he was a learned guy, it wasn't just dogma."

Nudell echoed Glover’s statement. “Rarely have I met anyone with a mind so at work,” he said. “An hour spent with Dick was like a month spent with anyone else.”

Samuel also applied himself to philanthropy, but he never merely wrote a check. He became personally invested in numerous causes. During the 1980s, he raised millions of dollars and traveled to the then Soviet Union to help Russian refuseniks – Jews prohibited from leaving the country – escape and resettle in the United States and Israel. He traveled to Israel more than 50 times and funded the construction of a daycare center there. He served as president of the , the YM-YWHA of Union County and the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey, vice president of the Scotch Plains-Fanwood chapter of UNICO, and was a member of the Fanwood-Scotch Plains Rotary Club. And at Congregation Beth Israel, he volunteered to organize the synagogue’s Seder for the second night of Passover, which often attracted more than 100 guests, Nudell said. 

“Dick was a master of multi-tasking. He was the first person I knew who used a Blackberry – and used it, and used it, and used it,” Nudell said, drawing laughs from Samuel’s friends and family. "He was on fire, he was brilliant, he was generous, he was fun-loving."

Samuel tempered his tenacity with a mischievous streak. He taught Nudell’s wife to shoot craps and play blackjack, Nudell said. And when his own wife, Geri, was out of town, he would wake his children with a breakfast of cake and ice cream.

"He had a terrible singing voice, but he loved to sing," Joanne said. “He’d wake us up in the morning by singing, ‘Good morning to you, you look like a monkey, and you smell like one, too.’”

Samuel’s political opponents were not exempt. “We’d bust each other’s chops,” said John O’Sullivan, Samuel’s cousin and a Republican councilman in South Brunswick. “He’d call me up or I’d call him up once in a while and say, 'Look at what you guys did!' We had a lot of fun."

Samuel’s funeral was a bipartisan celebration of an accomplished and respected man. Politicians from both sides of the aisle were in attendance, including Mayor Nancy Malool, Deputy Mayor Mary DePaola, Councilmen Kevin Glover and Mickey Marcus, former councilman Jeffrey Strauss, Scotch Plains Democratic Committee Chairman Lou Beckerman, Republican Committee Chairman Bill McClintock and Assemblywoman Linda Stender, D-Fanwood. Following the opening prayer, Stender read aloud a memorial citation issued by the General Assembly.

“The passion that Dick brought to this life in so many ways – to his wife, to his family – will be missed by all,” Stender said.

When the service drew to a close, Beckerman and Glover helped serve as Samuel’s pallbearers. "I'll miss him sorely,” Glover said. “He was a great mentor and a terrific friend."

Samuel is survived by his wife, Geri; his children, Mimi, Joanne, Matthew and Ryan; three grandchildren, Jesse, Mollie and Sherman Goldblum; and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his sister, Felice Samuel Greene, and his parents, Alexander and Mollie Samuel.

Donations may be made to the , the JFK Medical Center Foundation or the YM-YWHA of Union County. Letters of condolence may be sent to therossifuneralhome.com.


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