Joseph Thomas Gormley, Jr.

Joseph T. Gormley, Jr., of Cheshire, CT passed away on Friday, November 29, 2024. He was born on August 24, 1932 in Norwalk, CT to Joseph T. and Eudora Gormley. He attended St. Thomas Parochial School in Fairfield, Fairfield College Preparatory School on a scholarship, followed by undergraduate and law school at Notre Dame University in Indiana. 

In 1955, Joe married Nancy J. Jennings of Fairfield, CT and is survived by their four children, Eileen Bailey (husband Daniel), Sharon Dorne (fiancé George Turner), J. Thomas Gormley (wife Jenny) and David Gormley (partner Sue Ha). Joe served with the Air Force from 1956 to 1959 and after being honorably discharged he moved his family to Monroe, CT where he began his private and public practice of law. There he served on several town boards and commissions and served in 1961 as a Connecticut State Representative in the Connecticut General Assembly representing Monroe. During his career, he was a partner in two prominent law firms in Bridgeport, CT and will be best remembered for his public service. In 1962, he was appointed Assistant States Attorney for Fairfield County and in 1969 was appointed State’s Attorney for Fairfield County, responsible for the investigation and prosecution of criminal matters. In 1973, the Connecticut General Assembly passed legislation creating a central prosecution office responsible for the investigation and prosecution of all criminal matters in the State and the administrative supervision of all personnel within the Division of Criminal Justice. The head of the Division was designated as the Chief State’s Attorney and that position was to be the sole appointment of the Connecticut’s Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. The Honorable Charles House appointed Mr. Gormley as Connecticut’s first Chief State’s Attorney. He served in that capacity for five years at which time he retired to private practice. In 1987 he was appointed a Superior Court Judge and served in that capacity as a Senior Judge and as a Judge Trial Referee until his retirement on December 31, 2008.

Joe was charismatic with an irresistible smile. He loved spending time on Block Island and Misquamicut Beach with friends who became like family. He was shyer than people realized, appearing as the life of the party. He was funny, with a dry quick wit, smart, logical and fair. Through his life he received many accolades and continued to support his beloved Notre Dame remembering the days when he decided to do his Senior year and first year of Law School simultaneously while his wife Nancy worked to support them. He was an athlete. As a young man he enjoyed ice hockey and soft ball and spent his later years on the golf courses of Connecticut and Florida. He loved the outdoors, friendships, sunny days, and was pretty good on the dance floor with wife Nancy.

He will be greatly missed by his wife of 69 years, Nancy, his two sisters Barbara Driscoll and Sue Lyons, his ten loving grandchildren Joseph Tagliaferri and his wife Michelle, Courtney Tagliaferri and her husband Matt Hicks, Luke Bailey, Jessie and Dylan Dorne, Molly and Julie Gormley, Nicole, Danielle and Claudia Gormley and two great grandchildren Joseph and Jackson Tagliaferri, and was pre-deceased by his first grandson Shane Dorne in 2020.

Calling hours will be held on Friday, December 6, 2024 from 5pm-7pm at the Alderson-Ford Funeral Home, 615 South Main Street, Cheshire, CT. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday, December 7, 2024 at 10:00am at St. Bridget of Sweden Parish/St. Bridget Church, 175 Main Street, Cheshire, CT. Family and friends are asked to meet directly at the church. Burial will immediately follow St. Bridget of Sweden Cemetery, Higgins Road, Cheshire, CT. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Joe’s name to Wounded Warriors Project, Donor Care Center, P.O. Box 758541, Topeka, KS 66675-8541 or the Parkinson’s Foundation, 5757 Waterford District Drive, Suite 310, Miami, FL 33126.