In Memoriam

The Commissioners and Staff of the New Jersey Law Revision Commission were saddened to hear of the passing of John M. Cannel in June 2025. 

John was the first Executive Director of the Commission. He served in that position from the time the Commission began work in 1987 until his retirement in 2012. After his retirement, he continued his association with the Commission in a volunteer capacity for a decade, in a position created for him with the title of “Reviser of Statutes.”  

Born and raised in New Jersey, John received his undergraduate degree from Rutgers, The State University, before attending the London School of Economics and then graduating from the Yale Law School. Immediately after completing law school, John returned to New Jersey and began a career that encompassed nearly 55 years of service to the State. Starting in 1968, John spent almost 20 years with New Jersey’s Office of the Public Defender. He participated in the drafting of the New Jersey Parole Act (1979) and the Public Advocate Act (1974).

As Executive Director of the Commission, John worked on, and oversaw the work of Commission Staff on, a substantial number of projects focusing on diverse legal topics. Bills based on many of these projects were enacted by the Legislature and significantly changed New Jersey’s law.

John’s extensive record of public service was not limited to his employment with the State. He served as a member of the Governor's Task Force on Implementation of the Criminal Code (1978 to 1979), a member of New Jersey Criminal Disposition Commission (1979 to 1986), and a member of New Jersey Supreme Court Committees on Criminal Practice (for more than 40 years beginning in 1972) and Evidence (1981 to 2007). Additionally, John served for over a decade as a Commissioner in the New Jersey Delegation of the Uniform Law Commission. He also taught as an adjunct faculty member at Seton Hall Law School in 1973 and 1974, and at the Rutgers Law School – Newark from 1989 to 1994, in 2007, and then from 2011 through 2025. 

John was the author of the well-known publication New Jersey Criminal Code Annotated (Gann Law Books) and the co-author of Leases of Personal Property: A Project for Consumer Protection, 28 Harvard Journal on Legislation 115 (1991) and of Children in Need of Services: Toward A More Coherent Approach to Protecting New Jersey's Children and Families, 40 Seton Hall Legis. J. 1 (2016).  

In addition to his career in the law, John was a man of many interests. He was well-read in non-legal subjects, a music lover, a world traveler who could prepare detailed itineraries for countries around the globe at a moment’s notice when asked by friends and colleagues, and an excellent cook (renowned for his gumbo) who fed the bodies and souls of those around him.

The Commission extends our sympathies to John’s family, his friends, and to those in the legal profession and beyond who recall John’s unique talent, and his love for and many contributions to the law.

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