Editor's Note: A story on Susan A. Feeney, who also is also receiving the Medal of Honor, will appear in the coming weeks. Feeney is a partner at McCarter & English, and a past president of the New Jersey State Bar Foundation (NJSBF) and the New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA). Because of the pandemic, the awards will be presented at a later date.

In the early 1980s, factory workers and residents suffering from mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer linked to an asbestos product plant in Manville began filing lawsuits against the company. Soon, the state superior court in Middlesex County was bulging at the seams and it needed help.

That's when John E. Keefe Sr., then a judge of the New Jersey Superior Court, Law Division, was given the responsibility of managing the state's growing asbestos litigation. It was a massive undertaking and he handled it with rigor, efficiency and grace.