Dominick J. Ferrelli

Retired Superior Court Judge Dominick J. Ferrelli of Mount Holly died Thursday January 12th at Virtua Memorial Hospital in Mount Holly. He was 91. Judge Ferrelli was born in Bristol, PA in 1920 to Italian immigrant parents, Vincenzo and Venanzia Ferrelli , and was raised in Burlington City. He served with the Army Air Corps in North Africa and Italy and received the bronze star before being discharged at the end of the war. He attended Rutgers South Jersey Law School on the G.I. bill and graduated in 1951. He opened a law office in Burlington with a law school classmate, Al Bitting and was hired as Burlington County’s first assistant prosecutor in 1951. In 1954 he joined the Law Firm of Dimon, Haines and Bunting, where he practiced until being appointed Burlington County’s first full time prosecutor in 1971. He was appointed to the bench in 1973 and served for 17 years before retiring in 1990. Judge Ferrelli was a member and president elect of the Burlington County Bar Assoc. when he was appointed to the bench. Judge Ferrelli was also active in the community. He served on the Board of Trustees of Burlington County Hospital and was instrumental in changing the name to Memorial Hospital. He served on the board from 1961 until 1973 and was president from 1967 until 1973. Judge Ferrelli was a devoted member of the Sacred Heart Church in Mount Holly. It was a tribute to his devotion to his job that most lawyers who practiced before him in family court never realized that as an attorney he never had a divorce case, was a religious catholic, and was a conservative Republican. Predeceased by his wife, Jeanette Rodi Ferrelli, Judge Ferrelli is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, James John (J) and Susan Ferrelli of Mount Laurel; three grandchildren: Michael, Julia and Richard and three brothers: Pasquale of Burlington, Anthony (Joan) of Aurora, ILL, and Joseph (Elizabeth) of Nashville, TN. He is also survived by many nieces and nephews. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Thursday January 19th at 10 AM at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church , High Street and Bartram Ave., Mount Holly. Interment will be in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Burlington. Friends may call Wednesday from 6-9PM at the Perinchief Chapels, 438 High Street, Mount Holly. There will be no calling hours on Thursday. Contributions in Judge Ferrelli’s Memory may be made to the Virtua Hospital Foundation,PO Box 70260, Philadelphia, PA 19176-9703 or to the Dominick J. Ferrelli Scholarship Fund, C/O Burlington County Bar Assoc., 45 Grant Street, Mount Holly, NJ.

Dominick J. Ferrelli

September 26, 1920 - January 12, 2012