Allen Beldock, a longtime Queens judicial hearing officer and former Supreme Court judge with a dogged determination to stay on the bench, died on Tuesday. He was 96 and held the distinction as the oldest judicial officer in New York City.

Queens Supreme Court Administrative Judge Jeremy Weinstein said Beldock, who has worked as a judicial hearing officer for more than 20 years, died after taking a fall. He said Beldock, who had four-day work weeks, worked the last week before his death.

“He loved to be there and he loved to interact with people,” Weinstein said. “Why be anywhere else?”