Brooklyn judge and former City Councilman Noach Dear dies from coronavirus complications

Brooklyn judge and former City Councilman Noach Dear, has died of coronavirus, family members confirmed to the Daily News Sunday.

Brooklyn judge and former City Councilman Noach Dear died of coronavirus Sunday, sources confirmed to the Daily News.

Dear, 66, had been sick with COVID-19 for weeks and was on a ventilator. Rumors swirled that the judge had died weeks ago though they were dispelled at the time.

The judge served on the New York City Council for more than 20 years.

“Judge Dear had a certain energetic, colorful persona that epitomized the great diversity not only with respect to the Kings County Judiciary but also as a member of our Bar Association and Brooklyn Community at large,” said Brooklyn Bar Association President Frank Carone. “He will be sorely missed.”

Dear was moved up to the Supreme Court in 2010, after serving in the lower civil courts.

Family members confirmed the judge’s death but declined to comment.

A controversial, more conservative member of the City Council, Dear drew ire back in the 1980s for opposing Council legislation that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing. The legislation passed over his objections.

He was the second judge at Brooklyn Supreme Court Civil to die of the virus. Judge Johnny Lee Baynes died on March 27.

Ellen Spodek, the acting administrative judge of Brooklyn Supreme Civil Court, said Dear used to invite other judges from the courthouse to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

He and Johnny Lee Baynes, they both were such nice guys and I worked with both of them in civil court," said Spodek. “It really is a big loss.”

The coronavirus has taken a particularly rough toll on the Brooklyn court, where the two judges have now died and more than 10 others who passed through the building have been infected.

Lawyers and clerks told The News that the bustling courthouse should have been shut down earlier to prevent the spread.

The two judges are the only New York State judges who have died of the virus so far.