In Memoriam: U.S. Immigration Judge Philip L. Morace — Scholar, Outstanding Jurist, Beloved Colleague, And Kind Compassionate Human Being

The Honorable Philip Morace was a remarkable man. As an attorney who appeared before him for many years, I was always impressed by his kindness and judicial courage. He was very respectful of all those who appeared before him, attorneys and respondents. He will be deeply missed.

I attended Immaculate Heart of Mary grammar school with Philip, and fir many years (up until now) he lived a block away from me.
Phil was the kindest, most gentle person I have ever met. He never failed to stop and talk to my husband and I whenever we ran into him in the neighborhood. He was genuinely interested in how we were doing.
I am shocked and saddened over Philip’s passing.
The world has lost an amazing man. He was truly one of a kind.

I am shocked and devastated at Judge Morace’s sudden passing. He was an inspiration to me for the last 15 years. I never walked into his courtroom nervous because I knew Judge Morace was that special Judge who truly cared about the people that walked through his door, and that he would ensure a just result in my cases before him. Judge Morace always did what he thought was right, with a sense of humor and humility. I could see his faith in the law, goodness, logic and reason in all of his decisions. He always had my deep admiration. It is my hope that his family knows how very much he was admired. He taught me so much about immigration law, and made me want to be as good of a lawyer as he was a Judge. May he rest in peace.

I’m so sorry to have heard of he passing of Judge Morace – the same day I had a case before him. Judge Morace will certainly be missed. I for one will miss his smile, his welcoming presence, his respect and encouragement toward all who had a case before him, calling them by name, never by the last 3 digits of their A#. Judge Morace showed a special care for undocumented youth. They left thee courtroom feeling they were important and if anyone gav them a measure of hope, it was Judge Morace. May he rest in peace.

I’m really sad
I’ll had court wt him this coming abril a really good person.
My deepest condolences to his family
This is overwhelming to me I been in court before he for the Las 3 years in abril was gone be my last court say wt Mr. Morace

Thank you for the Beautiful Memoriam for Phil, and the sharing of your memories. Your words are all very comforting. There was a Memorial for Phil at the Immigration Court yesterday, and a few people inquired why Phil passed. Phil was all about transparency, he was very open about what he was going through and wouldn’t mind me sharing with you what happened. I hope this brings closure to some of you. In November when they told us that Phil’s tumor in his colon disappeared we were ecstatic. The tumor was gone, we thought he was home free. We were setting the date to reverse his colostomy. Phil was no friend to his colostomy, and was ready to say, “Goodbye”. Than we received the news that although the tumor was gone, the perpetrator of the cancer producing cell was still at the base of the stoma in his colon. Plus the neuroendcrine cancer that has spread to his lymph nodes although it had not spread further it did increase the size of a few of the lymph nodes. The end of December started a trial drug that was to attack the remaining cancer. This drug had worked in similar cases. He had taken it for 9 days when they found a problem with his kidneys. They had to stop the drug in case it ws the cause, and Phil was hospitalized to get to the bottom of what was happening with the kidneys. It turns out the lymph nodes that had increased in size were interfering with the functioning of the kidneys. Since the kidneys weren’t working properly the toxic contrast they used for the X-rays or sonograms was not able to completely leave the kidneys and resulted in the kidneys shutting down. So now there was surgery to get the kidneys working again and it was a success. Unfortunately now his blood pressure was dropping. Phil was in the hospital for 19 days, receiving the best treatment from the staff at Sloan Kettering. He was in good spirits the entire time (okay, he was human, he may have expressed some dismay here and there about the situation), but he continued to joke with the doctors. On the morning of January 20th, his blood pressure was dropping again, they had been monitoring him all night. We had been talking throughout the night, he said he felt fine. He did have discomfort from the adema but had no complaints about his heart. While they were prodding and poking him on that morning, Phil said he still felt fine in fact he asked the doctor if he could have a cup of hot tea. The doctor smiled and said he appreciated Phil’s enthusiasm, but we would have to wait on the tea. His calmness gave them calmness to be able to better access his health. Phil was even laughing when I asked him if he remembered something silly he said during the night. Phil was stoic to the end. He went into cardiac arrest and passed at 11:37 am. I was blessed that I was able to spend so much time with Phil and to be there for him. He was blessed that he had the support of everyone, and I mean everyone. He enjoyed the time spent with visitors, calls, letters and texts. He had a strong faith that we shared and it helped us through the past months.
Thank you for letting me share our story. Thank you to Judge Schoppert, Judge Chew, Judge Lamb and Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Cheng for organizing the wonderful tribute to Judge Philip L. Morace yesterday (3/3/17).