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Ustas, 50, who died Friday afternoon, supported two significant non-profit organizations in and around Passaic County: Shelter Our Sisters, which provides safe shelter and other asssistance to domestic violence victims, and Eva’s Village, which helps the homeless, drug addicted and underprivileged. Judge Ustas also was on the Board of Trustees of 1st Cerebral Palsy of NJ.
No surprise, then, that she served as a Family Court judge in Bergen County before moving to the criminal bench.
Before her June 2005 appointment, Judge Ustas was a founding partner of Weinberg & Ustas, PC, a five-female attorney law firm specializing in matrimonial and family law matters.
An accredited divorce mediator, Judge Ustas served as public defender (2001-01), prosecutor (2201-02) and judge (2002-05) in Paramus municipal court.
She practiced law with firms in Rutherford, Paramus and Hackensack following her admission to the New Jersey and New York bars in 1991 through 1996.
Judge Ustas was formerly employed as vice president of corporate development for the Brotherhood Construction & Development Corporation in Cedar Grove from 1984 to 1991 while she attended law school in the evening.
Following her graduation, she was employed as a law clerk for since-retired Judge Robert E. Hamer.
She served on the state Supreme Court’s District IIA Ethics Committee and was an executive committee member/master of the Northern New Jersey Family Inn of Court.
She was also a Trustee of the Bergen County Bar Association.
Born in Passaic and most recently residing in Clifton, Judge Ustas graduated cum laude from Montclair State College and received an MS degree in industrial relations, with distinction, from Pace University. She received her JD cum laude from Seton Hall School of Law.
Judge Ustas is survived by her parents, Edwin and Ann Marie Ustas, sisters, Patti A. Thivierge, Kathy Robertazzi, Mary Ustas and Eve Ustas, brother, John Ustas, nephews, Ryan and Quinton, and niece, Janeva.
Visiting is tomorrow from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. at Bizub-Quinlan Funeral Home, 1313 Van Houten Ave. Clifton, NJ.
Funeral services are scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday at the funeral home 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Victories RC Church, at the corner of Broadway and Memorial Drive in Paterson.
Cremation to follow at Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Paterson.
For more information, click here: Bizub-Quinlan Funeral Home: Judge Deborah L. Ustas
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