John W. Fried,
Town Justice
In 2011, the Ossining Town Board appointed John W. Fried to be a Town Justice to fill the unexpired term of retiring Justice Edwin S. Shapiro. Mr. Fried is the candidate of the Ossining Town Democratic Committee for election on November 8, 2011 to that public service office.
Justice Fried began his legal career in 1972 in another public service office, as an assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. During his 18 years of public service in that office, he tried to verdict a dozen felony cases, involving such crimes as murder, bribe receiving, armed robbery, and narcotics trafficking. At different times in that office, he was the chief of a trial bureau, chief of the rackets bureau, a senior trial counsel, and chief of the trial division. In the latter position, Mr. Fried supervised more than 250 assistant district attorneys who prosecuted cases ranging in seriousness from murder to disorderly conduct.
In 1990, Mr. Fried became a partner in a law firm representing business organization and individual clients in connection with insurance coverage disputes, and representing individuals in the defense of criminal charges. In 1999, Mr. Fried continued that legal practice in a partnership that bears his name, now with offices in New York City, Pleasantville, and Philadelphia. Following 9/11, the New York City Bar Association honored Mr. Fried's law firm for the pro bono legal services it had provided to individuals and businesses that had sought insurance recoveries for property and business income losses. More recently, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley recognized the successful pro bono legal services that Mr. Fried had provided to a resident of Ossining whose disability insurer had discontinued his benefits.
Mr. Fried is a member of the Bars of the States of New York and New Jersey, the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the District of New Jersey, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.
Justice Fried is a graduate of Rutgers University (1968) and Fordham Law School (1971). Currently, he is a part-time graduate student seeking a masters degree in American Studies at Columbia University.
John and his wife Gloria have made Ossining their home since 1972. Their two children, Meredith and Matthew, graduated from OHS. As residents of the Town of Ossining, Mr. Fried helped his wife organized the first and second Ossining Town Road Races in 1979 and 1980. In addition, Mr. Fried was president of the Ossining PTA Council, an AYSO referee, president and still a member of the Ossining Lions Club, a director of and performer with the Westchester Ballet Company, a Democratic district leader, a player-coach for the Ossining Athletics, an age 30 and older hardball baseball team, and he was a member of the Village of Ossining Comprehensive Plan Committee.
Mr. Fried was honorably discharged in 1976 from the U.S. Army Reserves as an infantry captain.
As a town justice, Mr. Fried brings to that important public office, sometimes called "A Peoples' Court," the wisdom and sound judgment of 39 years of experience as a lawyer and as an active participant in the Town of Ossining community.
