ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Joel H. Sterns, a pioneering casino lawyer who helped shepherd New Jersey's first gambling hall through the licensing process in the 1970s, has died of complications from heart disease. He was 76.
Sterns, the founding member of Trenton-based Sterns &
Sterns helped Resorts International become the first licensed casino to open outside Nevada. He also served as chief counsel to New Jersey Gov. Richard Hughes, and served in the administrations of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.
Bigham says Sterns was so successful because in addition to his legal talents, he had a knack for bringing people together and reaching consensus.
"Everybody loved Joel; he had a real warmth," Bigham said. "You hear a lot about what a great lawyer he was, but there was a lot more to him than that. He had this special skill of bringing people together."
Sterns "was a key player in the early days of casino gaming in Atlantic City," said Dan Heneghan, a spokesman for the New Jersey Casino Control Commission who covered Sterns as a reporter during that era.
"He was a key player in 1976 and '77 when the Casino Control Act was being drafted, and he represented Resorts for years and years after that," he said.
His firm continues to be deeply active in Atlantic City casino regulatory cases today.
Sterns held several positions with the state and federal governments. He served as Assistant to the Director of the federal Alliance for Progress, and Executive Assistant to the Chairman of the Import Export Bank of the United States.
In New Jersey, he was Executive Assistant and Acting Commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Economic Development (the predecessor to the present Department of Environmental Protection) from 1958-1960, and from 1965-1968, he was Deputy and Acting Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs.
Sterns, who lived in Washington Crossing, Pa., also had a home on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.
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