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<p>Gifford S. Cappellini, a well-respected retired Luzerne County judge known for his compassion and fairness, died Thursday. He was 90.</p><p>Cappellini was elected to the county Court of Common Pleas in 1985 and took the bench in January 1986 at age 60.</p><p>He served 10 years as a judge and another 10 as a senior judge. In a December 2005 interview with the Times Leader shortly before his retirement, Cappellini said the reason he became a judge was simple: He wanted to help.</p><p>As an attorney, Cappellini always wanted to help solve his clients&#8217; problems. As a judge, he wanted to help solve the problems of everyone who came into his courtroom. And over his 20 years on the bench, Cappellini said he had done just that.</p><p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t believe how much I enjoyed it. The people you came in contact with &#8230; they all have problems. You try to figure out how to solve those problems.&#8221;</p><p>From his chambers inside the Bernard C. Brominski Building, an annex of the courthouse, Cappellini told the reporter he would miss working in the courts, and being forced to retire was the only thing pushing him from his bench. If he could have, he would have stayed longer.</p><p>&#8220;Are you kidding? I love it,&#8221; he had said.</p><p>During his tenure, Cappellini presided over a number of high-profile cases, including the homicide trials of Glen Wolsieffer and Larry and Leona Cottam.</p><p>Wolsieffer was a popular local dentist when he strangled his 32-year-old wife, Betty, to death inside their Wilkes-Barre home on Aug. 30, 1986. He was convicted of third-degree murder. The Cottams, a couple then living in Nuangola, were convicted in 1991 of third-degree murder in the starvation death of their 14-year-old son, Eric.</p><p>Local defense attorney and former county chief public defender Al Flora represented the Cottams as well as clients in several other high-profile cases before Cappellini.</p><p>&#8220;He was probably the most compassionate judge I ever dealt with. And he commanded a tremendous amount of respect,&#8221; Flora said on Thursday. &#8220;He would struggle over decisions because he always wanted to do what was right. He was a lawyer&#8217;s judge is what he was.&#8221;</p><p>Flora said Cappellini and the attorneys in the Cottams case went to Philadelphia to pick a jury because of the high-profile nature of the case, and the Cottams were held in a Philadelphia prison during jury selection.</p><p>&#8220;He struggled so much with the fact that the parents were incarcerated while on trial, about how they were being housed in Philadelphia,&#8221; Flora recalled. &#8220;He wanted to hear what both sides had to say, where the public just wanted to lynch our clients.&#8221;</p><p>Flora described Cappellini as &#8220;a close friend&#8221; who was &#8220;very close&#8221; to Flora&#8217;s father. And like Flora&#8217;s father, Cappellini succumbed to dementia, Flora said.</p><p>He added that his father got to know many of the county&#8217;s judges because he was &#8220;in the boxing game&#8221; and had &#8220;a number of professional fighters from the area that he managed. When my father would come in from Baltimore, he would always stop in and see Judge Cappellini in his chambers. They had a connection,&#8221; Flora said.</p><p>Defense attorney Peter Paul Olszewski Jr., a former county judge and district attorney, practiced before Cappellini as well, and also knew Cappellini long before he practiced law before the judge in court.</p><p>&#8220;I grew up as a little boy two houses away from him. Judge Cappellini and his family lived on Academy Street (in Wilkes-Barre). My entire life, I knew Judge Cappellini and his family. He was a great, great guy,&#8221; Olszewski said.</p><p>&#8220;More than any other judge, he would listen to what litigators said and he would not make a decision until after he heard from everyone. He really wanted to hear everything that everyone had to say. But what transcended his professionalism as a judge is that he was the consummate gentleman, personally and professionally,&#8221; Olszewski said.</p><p>Olszewski remembered Cappellini as a family man who always spent time with his wife and children. And he recalled a meeting they had on Olszewski&#8217;s first day working as a judge in January 2000.</p><p>&#8220;My chambers at the time were in the Brominski Building. Judge Cappellini was down the hall. He sat me down and we had a talk and he told me about being a judge, about listening to people, being fair and using your background and knowledge to provide a level playing field. I&#8217;ll never forget that talk,&#8221; Olszewski said.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve lost a pillar in the community,&#8221; Olszewski said, &#8220;someone who I don&#8217;t think can ever be replaced.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Senior Judge Gifford S. Cappellini sits in the Bernard C. Brominski Building in Wilkes-Barre in December 2005, just prior to his retirement. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Cappellini_Gifford_toned-1.jpeg</photo0><caption0>Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Senior Judge Gifford S. Cappellini sits in the Bernard C. Brominski Building in Wilkes-Barre in December 2005, just prior to his retirement. </caption0><photoCredit0>Times Leader file </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Steve Mocarsky</p><p>smocarsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Steve Mocarsky at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @TLSteveMocarsky.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Retired Luzerne County Judge Gifford S. Cappellini dies at age 90