Richard Young, N.J. court system leader

Richard J. Young was not, as it turned out, unstoppable. But for most of his 52 years, he certainly seemed to be.

Persevering through two bouts of Hodgkin disease as a teenager, he pursued his education until he had a master's and worked his way into a top administrative post in the New Jersey court system.

Evenings and weekends found him on Moorestown's athletic fields, mobbed by children. In fall, he coached soccer; in winter, street hockey; in spring, soccer again; then baseball and roller hockey.

His major opponent, though, was not the youth team from the next township over. It was chronic illness, which picked up its pace in his mid-30s. Cardiomyopathy. Heart failure. And finally, throat cancer, necessitating open-heart surgery.

Mr. Young died of complications of that operation on Friday, Jan. 4, at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

His dedication to children's sports was tested repeatedly. Ten years ago, while on the heart transplant list at HUP, he was fitted with a biventricular pacemaker. Within days, he was refereeing a hockey game.

Six years ago, when throat cancer weakened his voice, Mr. Young kept coaching - using his wife, Elaine, and others to say what he could not.

"He could barely speak above a whisper," she said. But running his goalie clinics, in particular, "meant a lot to him. And it had an impact on the children - his and others."

Mr. Young was born in Baughurst, England, a village in Hampshire 70-some miles south of London. He spent his third birthday on a ship to America, where his father, a chemist, would go to work for Rohm & Haas Corp.

At 14, he received radiation treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer of lymph tissue. It recurred while he was a student at Cinnaminson High School. The radiation, this time combined with chemotherapy, quelled the disease but damaged his heart.

After graduation in 1978, he went to Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., to major in politics. He wanted to play soccer, but his health dictated against it. He instead coached for a nearby Jewish Y.

He earned a bachelor's degree in 1982, returned to Cinnaminson, and enrolled at Rutgers University, where he studied part-time for a master's while working in the New Jersey State Administrative Office of the Courts.

Mr. Young was there 29 years, rising to the post of chief of judicial education and performance in 2009. In 1986, he was instrumental in creating the New Jersey Judicial Performance Program, aimed at assessing and improving judges' efficacy, and guiding the governor and legislature in reappointments.

New Jersey was a trailblazer in such evaluation systems, and Mr. Young was dispatched to advise other states, from New Hampshire to Hawaii, how to follow suit.

He also ran Judicial College seminars in Teaneck for the continuing education of judges.

"Rick completely transformed the organization of the Judicial Performance Program and Judicial College into one judges hold in extremely high regard," said David Anderson, retired director of the state Office of Professional and Government Services, which oversees Mr. Young's department.

"He never said no, no matter how difficult the task. He always found a way to make it work," Anderson said.

He also was a father, and when his son, Timothy, was in kindergarten, he stepped up to coach Moorestown youth teams, starting with soccer. He expanded into baseball, roller hockey, and street hockey, and refereed for the Moorestown Youth Street Hockey Association.

Mr. Young gave at least an evening a week to practices. Each weekend held a game, sometimes two.

Last February, Mr. Young's health had so deteriorated that he was removed from the heart transplant list. By summer, he requested a leave from his job. But in the fall, he was mulling answering a call in a community newsletter for coaches.

"He didn't," his wife said. "But he wanted to."

Along with his wife and son, Mr. Young is survived by a daughter, Colleen; his parents, M. Godfrey and Anna Jarvis Young; a sister, and a brother.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, at the First Presbyterian Church, 101 Bridgeboro Rd., Moorestown, with a private interment.

Donations may be made to the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center or Penn Medicine Cardiology through www.pennmedicine.org.