Meet Jerry

The Honorable W. Gerard Asher was elected to the Suffolk County District Court in November 2004 and has served as a Districit Court Trial Judge for four years and an acting County Court Judge for the last two years.

Judge Asher is a local product having graduated from Huntington High School in 1959. He earned a B.A. at Princeton University in 1963 and a J.D. at Cornell University in 1966. After law school he served for two years in the United States Army attaining the rank of Captain and is a lifetime member of V.F.W. Post 1469.

Judge Asher practiced law with the law firm of John Toaz (a former President of the Suffolk County Bar Association) for five years and then became a sole practitioner for over thirty years with a general practice in real estate, surrogate matters and trial practice. He was a certified baseball agent for over twenty-six years and worked with Tony Attanasio. He represented several major league baseball players in arbitration cases heard in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Among the local New York players he represented were Bud Harrelson, Lee Mazzilli, Tim Teufel, Rafael Santana, Shane Rawley, Neil Allen and Scott Brosius.

He has served on numerous community and charitable boards and he was a member of the of the Huntington Planning Board for seventeen years and he served on several Town of Huntington citizen committees. He was among the first ten recipients of a Congressional Achievement Award in 1984 for outstanding service to the community of Long Island and was the first honoree of the Huntington Town's Youth Board Invest in Youth Award. He is a recipient of the Kiwanis International Hixon Award.

A member of the Suffolk County Bar Association since 1969, Judge Asher has served on several committees of the Bar including the Legislative Review, Solo and Small Firm Practitioners, Legal Aid and Elder Law Committees. He co-chaired the Entertainment & Sports Law Committee from 1997 to 2000 and the District Court Committee in 2007-08. Judge Asher was a Treasurer of the Pro Bono Foundation and is a two time recipient in 1997 and 2004 of the Pro Bono Recognition Award.

Judge Asher is married to the former Sylvia Gazetsky and they will be celebrating their forty-seventh wedding anniversary this June. The Asher's have two grown daughters, Gigi and Lara.

Read more about Jerry in these newspaper articles »

Experience

  • Acting County Court Judge Riverhead
  • Trial Judge of the District Court Central Islip
  • Trial practitioner in District, Family, County and Supreme Courts
  • Practiced Law for 35 years before being elected to the bench
  • Member New York State Bar Association
  • Member Suffolk County Bar Association - served on numerous committees including Pro Bono Foundation. Elected to Board of Directors 2008 - 2011
  • Chairman of District Court Committee 2007-2009
  • 2 time Pro Bono recognition winner - 1997 and 2004
  • Huntington Lawyers Club, Past President - 1982 - 1983
  • Certified Major League Baseball Agent - by MLBPA affiliated for 26 years with ADA Financial Inc., Tony Attanasio, Pres.

Public Service

  • Member Planning Board, Town of Huntington 1986 to 2003. (Chairman 1994-1995)
  • Citizens Advisory Committee to update master plan
  • Citizens Advisory Committee - Parks & Recreation
  • Chairman - Reapportionment Committee for Suffolk County Legislature
  • Member Suffolk County Campaign Finance Committee
  • Town of Huntington Youth Board – Honoree of First Annual Invest In Youth Award 1993
  • Served on the Town of Huntington Blue Ribbon Panel to study salaries for elected and appointed officials
  • In 1990's, member of the Board of Directors for six years and Vice-Chairman for three of Huntington Chamber of Commerce

Education

  • Cornell University Law School, J.D. 1966
  • Princeton University, BA 1963
  • Huntington High School, 1959

Military

  • United States Army
    • Army Commendation Medal For Service - 1968
    • Commander of "A" Battery, 6th Battalion, 44th Artillery, Korea
  • Lifetime Member VFW post 1469

Community & Family

  • One of first 10 recipients of Congressional Achievement Award, 1984 for outstanding voluntary service to community of Long Island
  • Kiwanis Club of Huntington, Inc. - President 1979-1980; 2003-2004
  • Treasurer and Member of the Board of Directors YMCA 1969-1975
  • Member and former Chairman of Site Selection Review Committee for the Mentally Retarded l977-l986
  • Recipient of Hixson Award- Kiwanis International
  • Member Board of Trustees St. Anthony's High School
  • Member Ancient Order of Hibernians Div. 4 Huntington
  • Married, 47 years to Sylvia, two grown daughters, Gigi and Lara
  • Member St. Elizabeth R.C. Church: member of St. Elizabeth's Church for more than 30 years - former Lector, Eucharistic Minister, Pre-Cana, CCD et.al.
  • Member Board of Directors of The Ministries
  • President Jaycees 1971-1972
  • Chairman of Jaycees and Huntington Kiwanis Clubs sponsored Sear's Shopping Tour for 50 Underprivileged Children for the past 40 years
  • President of the Huntington Football Giants, A.C., Inc. 1969-1976
  • President of the Huntington Athletic Club, Inc. in the 1970's
  • Advisor to Mickey Norton and Norton Athletic Club, Inc. 1970's
  • Assistant Coach in Tri-Village Little League 2005 and 2006

Judge Jerry Asher, a Life of Service

1991 - Jerry with his daughters Jerry with his high school coach at a 50th re-union of championship team Playing golf with Buddy Harrelson and Lee Mazilli 1968 - Army Captain W.G. Asher 1957 - on the Suffolk County champion Huntington High School basketball team 1958 - Co-captain of his Huntington co-champion High School football team Jerry on his Huntington High School baseball team Jerry at Boys State, sponsored by the American Legion Jerry served on the Huntington Town Planning Board, 1986-2003 Jerry marching in a parade with the Hibernians Jerry with his wife and daughters 2007 - Jerry and family celebrating father's 90th birthday 1996 - Jerry and his wife Sylvia on Christmas Jerry with his brothers and a nephew Frome left to right, Charlie Forte, coach Al Donofrio, Jerry Asher, and Pete Sansiviero. Jerry in the Cow Harbor Race with Gary Muhrcke, winner of the first NYC Marathon Jerry (right) in the 1979 Cow Harbor Race with his brother Brian (left). Both completed the race in under 46 minutes Jerry with Mike interviewing the other 5 runners who have completed all 25 Cow Harbor Races, 2003 Jerry in the finish of the 2009 Cow Harbor Race, his 31st consecutive run, in celebration of the Huntington High School class of '59 reunion. He also ran in 2010 to keep the streak alive.
 
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Mineola Roots

Jerry's Grandfather, Harry Francis Asher, first Mayor of Mineola, c1920 Mayor Harry Asher with the ceremonial first shovel of dirt for the Mineola sewers, 1928 Harry Asher (center) at the inception of the Nassau County Police Boys Club, 1941 Jerry's father, William Charles Asher, 1944 Harry Asher Jr. (left) and Bill Asher (right) at a pharmaceutical convention 1951 - Jerry played second base on the first Little League team in Mineola, the Mineola Lumber Elfs 1953 - Jerry on the District Champion Mineola All Star Little League team Jerry with some of his little league buddies, still friends today
 
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Mineola Roots

Harry Francis Asher, Jerry’s grandfather, moved from Brooklyn to Mineola in 1920. He graduated from St. John’s School of Pharmacy and was a licensed pharmacist. He started Asher’s Pharmacy in 1920 on 2nd Avenue. Harry was very involved with community and the Kiwanis Club and soon became involved in local politics. He was the last “President” of Mineola and became Mineola’s first mayor in 1925.

Jerry’s father Bill Asher and mother Rita McDonald both graduated from Mineola High School in the mid 1930s and married in 1939. Jerry was born on May 15 1941 in Nassau Hospital and was raised in a modest Cape Cod house on 1st Street.

Bill Asher and his older brother Harry F. Asher Jr. both graduated from the St. John’s School of Pharmacy and with their father Harry Sr. moved the pharmacy to the corner of Willis Ave and Jericho Turnpike where it became a Mineola institution for over 63 years.

In 1951, Jerry played second base for the very first Little League team in the history of Mineola (a team which went 17-1.)

The next year, the Little League expanded to 4 teams, then soon expanded to six-teams. Jerry later started at second base and batted lead-off on the first District champion all-star team.

Jerry attended Jackson Avenue Elementary School and Willis Avenue Junior High School. Then in 1955 at 14 years old, Jerry moved with his family to the Huntington area.

To this day, Jerry maintains strong friendships with his Little League and Babe Ruth baseball teammates including Gary Peers, Larry DiBlasi, and Bob Young (who later became the head football coach and lacrosse coach at Mineola High School).

You can see a picture of the four baseball teammates together in the photo gallery above.

“I loved growing up in Mineola,” Jerry says. “I made lifetime friends, and it truly was like growing up in Norman Rockwell’s Americana.”