Philadelphia Inquirer – November 25, 2003
The state Superior Court judge and former mayor was 71.
Said a friend: "The whole city became his family."
By Rita Giordano and Dwight Ott, Inquirer Staff Writers
To the people who knew him, and there were many, Joseph M. Nardi Jr. was above all a family man, a man of faith whose passion never wavered for his beloved Camden and its people.
Mr. Nardi, 71, a state Superior Court judge who was mayor of Camden during one of its most turbulent periods, died Sunday at his Audubon home. He had had heart surgery two years before.
To the those who yesterday mourned his passing, this son of Italian immigrants was a tireless advocate for his community and church.
Martin McKernan, a Camden County lawyer and friend, was on hand in September when Mr. Nardi was made Knight Commander of the Knights of St. Gregory, papal honors for his dedication and service. Mr. Nardi also was a recipient of the St. Thomas More Society Award.
"He will be remembered as the consummate Christian gentleman," McKernan said.
Proud to say he was a shoemaker’s son, Mr. Nardi graduated from Camden Catholic High School and the Rutgers University School of Law, which honored him with a Distinguished Alumni award.
During his career, he served in several municipal posts, including as Camden’s city attorney.
He was mayor from 1969 to 1973, a volatile time that included civil unrest and rioting.
U.S. District Judge Joseph Rodriguez, a friend of Mr. Nardi’s since the first grade in Camden, was a representative of the Hispanic community at the time.
"You had to understand what was happening in the community," Rodriguez said. "It was beyond his or my control. We were just dealing with how to bring it to a resolution."
Sworn in as a Superior Court judge in Camden County in July 1989, Mr. Nardi preferred the Family Division.
"Lots of judges don’t want it. He chose it," Rodriguez said."He was a great family man."
Mr. Nardi retired in 2002, only to serve again on judicial recall in Burlington and Camden Counties.
His love of family guided him as mayor, said Randy Primas, another former mayor and now Camden’s state-appointed chief operating officer.
"The whole city became his family," Primas said.
The Rev. Michael Mannion, Mr. Nardi’s rector at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, said: "He might have moved away, but he never left Camden. He lived in different places, but he never left that spiritual home."
Mr. Nardi is survived by his wife of 48 years, Rita; sons Joseph III, Raymond, Robert and John; daughters Rosanna Innes, Rita and Julia Rineman; 10 grandchildren; a brother; and a sister.
Friends may call from 2 to 5 p.m. Friday and after 8:30 a.m. Saturday at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Broadway and Market Street, Camden, where a Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Entombment will be at Calvary Cemetery in Cherry Hill.
Memorial donations may be made to the Joseph and Rita Nardi Scholarship Fund at St. Joseph’s University, Office of Development, 5600 City Ave., Philadelphia 19131, or to the South Jersey Scholarship Fund in care of the Diocesan Center, 631 Market St., Camden, N.J. 08102.
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