William V. Eisenberg, 81, lawyer, volunteer
Since retiring as a Haddonfield lawyer in 2007, William V. Eisenberg was a voluntary counsel for the Camden Center for Law and Social Justice.
Since retiring as a Haddonfield lawyer in 2007, William V. Eisenberg was a voluntary counsel for the Camden Center for Law and Social Justice.
"In our family-law department, he worked with clients on child support, child custody," said Jeffrey S. DeCristofaro, the attorney who is the firm's executive director. The nonprofit firm deals mostly with immigration and domestic-violence problems.
DeCristofaro came to know Mr. Eisenberg as a soccer coach for a Haddonfield recreation league, when the future lawyer was 8 or 9 years old, and then as a teenage file clerk in an Eisenberg law firm.
Though he never worked as a lawyer for Mr. Eisenberg's firms, DeCristofaro recalled him as "coach, mentor, my boss."
Said Mr. Eisenberg's son, Jeff: His volunteer years with the Camden Center were "the happiest days of his life as a lawyer."
On Tuesday, Aug. 9, Mr. Eisenberg, 81, of Haddonfield, who in 1982 won the Peter J. Devine Award of the Camden County Bar Association, died at the Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice in Mount Holly of complications from bladder surgery.
He was a board member for the New Jersey ACLU from 1962 to 1967 and its chief counsel in 1968-69.
DeCristofaro said the work that Mr. Eisenberg did as a soccer coach was memorable.
"He let all the kids have a shot," DeCristofaro said. "He was a different type of adult. He spoke to us in a different way, didn't always use kids' words."
And as a teenage file clerk for Mr. Eisenberg, DeCristofaro said, "I learned how to act professionally, as a lawyer."
Mr. Eisenberg grew up in Collingswood, graduated from Collingswood High School in 1952, earned a bachelor's in business at Pennsylvania State University in 1956, and graduated from the law school at the University of Pennsylvania in 1959.
He was in private practice for Camden County firms from 1960 to 1985, and from 1969 to 1971 he was an assistant Camden County prosecutor.
In 1985, his son said, he opened Eisenberg & Gold, with Janet Gold, and in 1993 it became Eisenberg, Gold & Cettei, with Donna Cettei. Both firms at the time were in Haddonfield.
Mr. Eisenberg was also a Camden County Bar Association volunteer for the Domestic Violence Pro Bono Project at Rutgers Law School.
Besides his son, Mr. Eisenberg is survived by his wife of 55 years, Roselyn; daughter Ruth Anne Robbins; and two granddaughters.
A private September service is planned.
Donations may be sent to the Camden County Center for Law and Justice, 509 State St., Camden, N.J. 08102.
Condolences may be offered to the family at kainmurphy.com.
610-313-8134 @WNaedele