Rutgers Law-Camden to Host Distinguished Alumni Awards Celebration; Three Esteemed Graduates to be Honored

CAMDEN —Three esteemed graduates from Rutgers Law–Camden will be honored individually for significant contributions to the legal profession; exceptional service to the community; and achieving distinction in the legal community under a decade since graduating law school, during the fourth annual Distinguished Alumni Awards Celebration.

At 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, the Rutgers Law–Camden Alumni Association will present the 2013 Arthur E. Armitage Sr. Distinguished Alumni Award to James R. Maida, a 1990 alumnus, and current president and chief executive officer of Gaming Laboratories International, LLC. The Honorable Judith H. Wizmur, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the District of New Jersey, a 1975 alumna, will receive the Honorable Joseph M. Nardi Jr. Distinguished Service Award. Tara Marie Pellicori, a 2009 alumna and corporate and finance attorney at DLA Piper LLP is the 2013 recipient of the Recent Graduate Award.

According to Rutgers Law–Camden Dean Rayman Solomon, the annual alumni event is a celebrated tradition that not only salutes three outstanding graduates, but also showcases the efforts of the Rutgers Law–Camden Alumni Association. “Through the Alumni Association, our graduates enjoy a vibrant and active connection to the law school, and our current students gain invaluable insight into their future profession.”

For nearly three decades, the Arthur E. Armitage Sr. Distinguished Alumni Award has recognized Rutgers Law–Camden’s most accomplished graduates, including governors, attorney generals of New Jersey, noted civil and criminal trial attorneys, and general counsels to Fortune 500 companies. 

This year’s recipient, James R. Maida was recognized in the gaming industry as a leader for his international gaming test laboratory and regulatory consulting group headquartered in Lakewood, NJ with 21 additional locations that span six continents.  In 2011, he was recognized as a “Gaming Industry Visionary” by Casino Enterprise Management Magazine and two years earlier as the “Most Influential Person in Gaming” by Global Gaming Business magazine. Maida, with his wife Dr. Sharon O. Maida, a 1997 Rutgers alumna, are trustees of the James and Sharon Maida Foundation, Inc. which has been providing scholarships to local students, including those at Rutgers Law–Camden.  Maida, who graduated from Rutgers Law–Camden with high honors, and honors in taxation, earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science engineering from Lehigh University.

Established in 1983, the alumni award is a memorial to Armitage Sr., who, with a group of interested citizens, founded both the South Jersey Law School in 1926 and its companion College of South Jersey in 1927. In 1950, the Camden campus became affiliated with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Commemorating the life and accomplishments of the Honorable Joseph M. Nardi Jr., a retired Superior Court judge, former Camden mayor, and 1956 Rutgers Law–Camden alumnus, the Nardi Distinguished Service Award was established in 2002 to recognize exceptional service to the law school and larger community.

Appointed as a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge, District of New Jersey by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in the 1985, the Hon. Judith H. Wizmur served as chief judge from 2005 to 2012.  She established the Rutgers–Camden Bankruptcy Pro Bono Project, designed to provide representation for indigent bankruptcy clients and supervised experience for law students. She continues to chair the program’s steering committee and regularly mentors students as summer interns and yearlong externs in her chambers.

Born in Budapest, Hungary,  Wizmur emigrated to the U.S. with her family in 1957 after escaping Communist Hungary. She is a graduate of Douglass College in Rutgers–New Brunswick.

Established in 2010, the Recent Graduate Award honors Tara Marie Pellicori as this year’s recipient. She has been recognized by DLA Piper LLP as a “DLA Piper Woman Leader” for her service on key committees and community involvement, including co-chairing DLA’s Women’s History Month events for the past two years. A Philadelphia pro bono award winner in 2012, Pellicori is involved in many pro bono and community service ventures, including the Philadelphia Justinian Society, Dress for Success Philadelphia, and Street Law at the Burlington County Juvenile Detention Center.

She is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College, where she earned a bachelor’s in business administration management.

The Distinguished Alumni Awards Celebration will be held at the Tavistock Country Club, located at 100 Tavistock Lane in Haddonfield.

Tickets are $80, which includes dinner. Proceeds from this event fund the alumni association’s scholarships. To register and to place ads in the program, visit camlaw.rutgers.edu/distinguished-alumni-awards-celebration.