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S. Barrett Hickman
S. Barrett Hickman, passed away suddenly on Friday November 16. He was 78 years old. A Justice of the Supreme Court of New York State, he was born in Danbury, Connecticut on October 3, 1929. Judge Hickman graduated from Carmel High School in 1947 and following graduation from Hamilton College in 1951 he served in the United States Air Force from 1952-1956. He attended law school at Cornell University, graduating in 1959. Judge Hickman had a distinguished career as an attorney and Judge. He served as the Town Justice in the Town of Carmel. He was with the law firm of Kent, Hazzard, Jaeger, Wilson, Freeman and Greer from 1965-1976. In 1976 he was elected Putnam County District Attorney and in 1979 he was elected to a Putnam County judgeship. He was elected to the New York State Supreme Court in 1985 where he served until retiring in 2003, and at the time of his death, was Of Counsel to the Law Firm of William G. Sayegh in Carmel. He married Valerie Hickman, Director of the Putnam County Visitor's Bureau in 1992.
Judge Hickman gained national attention for presiding over the 1999 defamation suit brought by Stephen Pagones against the attorneys for Tawana Brawley. He was a member of the Putnam County, Westchester County, New York State and American Bar Associations, New York State County Judge's Association, Surrogate's Association and Family Court Judges, American Judiciary and New York State Judiciary Sections. He also served as Secretary of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Unified Bar and was a member of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics. Judge Hickman was very active throughout the community serving as a Director of Putnam Community Hospital; a member of the Executive Board of Westchester-Putnam Council, Inc., B.S.A; a President of the American Lung Association, Hudson Valley, Inc.; and as a member of the Mahopac Rotary Club, Red Cross and Girl Scout Fund Drives and Mahopac Chamber of Commerce.
Judge Hickman especially enjoyed holidays with his children and grandchildren in his summer home on Cape Cod which he bought with his late wife Ruth H. Hickman. He also enjoyed traveling abroad, singing and socializing. He had a special love for the people of Putnam County.
He is survived by his wife, Valerie Hickman and his four children, Diane H. McKnight of Arlington VA, J. Barrett Hickman of South Carolina, Deborah H. Santini of Carmel, NY and S. Bruce Hickman of Hopkinton, MA, 5 grandchildren and 1 great grand child.
Judge Hickman has left papers to the Putnam County Historian's Office, the Southeast Museum, the Kent Historical Society, and the Carmel Historical Society. The collection of the Putnam County Historian contains some of the legal decisions issued by Judge Hickman in cases over which he presided. The collection does not contain any documents that relate to the 1999 defamation suit.
Arrangements were handled by the Adams-Cordovano Funeral Home 15 Church Street, Carmel; services were held at the Mount Carmel Baptist Church.
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