Service set April 9 for Judge DiClerico

Judge Joseph DiClerico

A funeral mass for Judge Joseph DiClerico, who died April 2 at 81, will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 9, at Our Lady of Fatima Church, 724 Main St., New London.

Judge DiClerico, who served on the U.S. District Court in New Hampshire for 30 years, began his judicial career in 1977 as an associate justice on the New Hampshire Superior Court. In 1991, he was appointed chief justice of that court.

In 1992, he was named to the federal bench, as a judge in the New Hampshire district. During his first five years on that court he was the chief judge. In 2007, rather than retire outright, he became a Senior Judge, carrying a reduced caseload, and continued in that capacity until his death.

Raised in Nahant, Mass., he earned degrees from Williams College and Yale Law School. He began practicing law in 1968 as an associate at the Concord law  firm of Cleveland, Waters and Bass. In the fall of 1970, he became an assistant attorney general in New Hampshire, serving first under Attorney General Warren Rudman and then Attorney General David Souter.

He is survived by his wife Laurie, their daughter Devon Germak and her husband, Dr. Matthew Germak, their twin daughters, Sofia and Katelyn, and a brother, Dr. Robert DiClerico.

Burial will be in the Old Main Street Cemetery, New London at a later date. Memorial contributions may be made to: The Mayhew Program, PO BOX 120, Bristol, NH, 03222; Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust, 71 Pleasant St, New London, NH 03257; or Lake Sunapee Region Visiting Nurse Association, P.O. Box 2209, New London, NH 03257.