When Judge Peter McQuillan died we lost one of New York's legal giants. Because he was in his prime years ago, many lawyers never knew him or appeared in his court, perhaps hearing only of his name and reputation. I was fortunate to have been around during at least part of his heyday and can think of no one who knew more law and was willing to impart it in his gentle, scholarly way.

Eminently likable, Judge McQuillan carried his scholarship with modesty, as others would look to him for his thoughts on the most vexing legal issues. He is, one might say, perhaps the last of a generation of luminaries—along with Richard Denzer, Richard Bartlett and others who were instrumental in producing the Penal Law of 1967—a work so good as to have endured for decades. There have been amendments of course but the basic structure and its genius remain with us.

When starting out, I remember how privileged I felt to have been in his company when he and the others were discussing a point of law. I would listen and try to take it all in. Those of us fortunate to have known Judge McQuillan will long remember him and all he has given to the justice system.