Public Employee Press

Union mourns former legal chief Joel Giller


The union family mourns the loss of former DC 37 General Counsel Joel Giller, who passed away Feb. 1.

"Joel Giller was a great attorney and always a gentleman," said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. "He was deeply committed to the struggles our members face and never lost that focus."

Giller served as general counsel from 2000 to 2004, then became Legal Director of the Teachers Retirement System.

"He was my friend for over 50 years," said Lifeguard Supervisors Local 508 President Peter Stein. "Joel's inherent decency, compassion and humanity, his genuine concern for others and his constant willingness to help were remarkable."

"Joel would dissect complex legal issues and explain them so everyone understood. He readily offered advice and mentoring," said DC 37 Research and Negotiations Director Evelyn Seinfeld, who worked with Giller at the union for 25 years.

"Joel led with quiet authority and always worked to get the best for the members. I owe a lot to him," said General Counsel Robin Roach, whom he mentored.

Though selfless and self-effacing, Giller was a legal powerhouse who did much to improve conditions for members and for the attorneys in DC 37's Legal Dept.

Giller helped win pensions for part-time workers, Medicare Part B for seniors, and medical benefits for surviving spouses of civil servants. He fought the union's legal battles to save public hospitals, protect city jobs from overseas outsourcing and thwart attempts to use workfare to displace public employees. He won rights that helped non-citizens get credit for degrees from foreign universities to meet civil service job requirements.

"I have always counted it a privilege to come to work every day," Giller told PEP in 2004. "At the end of the day it was always about this institution, what it can do for the membership, for the city at large and for the greater public good."

Friends are donating to two organizations Joel loved and supported: the Peggy Browning Fellowship Program and the New York Gothams Youth Baseball Program.

— Diane S. Williams