Obituary of Gerard Podesta

MKA Hall of Fame Tennis Great Dies at 94 Mr. Podesta, 94, died on May 16, 2011. He was born in Hoboken, NJ on July 15, 1916, moved to Montclair at an early age and lived there and in Glen Ridge until 1998. He graduated from Montclair Academy in 1935, attended the University of North Carolina, graduated Princeton 1939 with a BA in Political Science and University of Virginia Law School in 1942 with an LLB. During World War II, he served as a Lt. in The Amphibious Command. From 1947 until his retirement in 1990, Mr. Podesta practiced law with his firm, Podesta, Myers and Crammond in Bloomingdale, NJ specializing in Land Development, Estates, and Municipal matters. He was a member of The Passaic County and NJ Bar Associations and licensed to practice before the Supreme Court. Sports played a major part throughout his life. At Montclair Academy he captained the basketball and tennis teams and was an ALL NJ in both sports. In college he won 7 consecutive University titles and was captain and #1 of Princeton's undefeated 1938 team. Until 1942, summers were spent playing against the worlds best at Forest Hills, Newport, Seabright and Southhampton, all of which earned him high national and sectional rankings. His favorite stories were about tennis lessons from the legendary Big Bill Tilden, when he beat Bobby Riggs in 1940 when Riggs was #1 in the world, and winning consecutive Eastern Clay Court Titles in 1938 and 1939. Mr. Podesta is survived by his wife Elizabeth, daughter Karen, son Jeffrey, and his three grandsons, Johnny and Bobby Borbone and Nicolas Podesta. A mass of Christian Burial will be offered on Saturday at 10:30am at Immaculate Conception Church, Montclair. Interment private. Visiting hours will be held on Friday from 6-9pm at the Hugh M. Moriarty Funeral Home, 76 Park Street, Montclair, NJ 07042.