Judge Skelos of Rockville Centre receives top honor from Criminal Courts Bar Association

Lifelong Rockville Centre resident, Hon. Peter B. Skelos, an associate justice of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, was honored with the Norman F. Lent Memorial Award on March 10 at the Criminal Courts Bar Association of Nassau County’s annual dinner dance.

The Lent award is given annually to a judge who is recognized for honesty, scholarship and humanity — the qualities for which Norman F. Lent, Sr. was known.

“As a young prosecutor in District Court,” said Bill Kephart, president of the CCBA, “I recall how Judge Skelos treated everyone professionally, fairly and with respect, how he listened to all who appeared before him allowing them to advocate their respective positions; and ultimately how he arrived, time after time, at a well reasoned, legally sound, fair and just decision.”

Skelos has received numerous awards for his public and professional service from the Fraternal Order of Court Officers and the Eastern Orthodox Lawyers Association. He is a member of the Nassau County Bar Association and was a member of the Council of Judicial Associations of the New York State Bar Association. Skelos is presently administrative chair of the We Care Fund Advisory Board of the Nassau County Bar Association and regularly volunteers at its many events. He also currently serves as the chairman of the Judicial Hearing Officer Selection Advisory Committee for the 10th Judicial District. For many years, Justice Skelos was also a member of the board of directors of the Nassau Lawyers Association and was a master of the Theodore Roosevelt American Inn of Court.

Since 1996, Skelos has taught criminal law, constitutional criminal procedure, psychiatry and the law, security administration and employment discrimination law at C.W. Post College. He enjoys participating as a judge in the moot court competitions at Fordham and Hofstra law schools and the Nassau County Bar Association.

Skelos was a member of the Nassau County Bar Association’s Mentoring Program for at-risk youths for many years, and was its coordinator at Hempstead Middle School. He also served several terms as a member of the parish council at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Paul in Hempstead. Justice Skelos is also active in his own community, where he has made presentations on juvenile justice to students at South Side Middle School and on the role of a judge to members of the Youth Court at South Side High School. He was the longtime coach of the Rockville Centre Sharks girls soccer team and completed four terms as the travel commissioner for the Rockville Centre Soccer Club.

Skelos lives in the village with his wife Faith, who is the principal of Dinkelmeyer Elementary School in the North Bellmore Elementary School District. They are the proud parents of two daughters, Alexis, a graduate of the College of William and Mary, and Daphne, a graduate of Penn State University.