The Honorable Mark E. Litowitz died on January 9, 2020 after a brief illness, one day before his 91st birthday. The cause of death was esophageal cancer.
A lifelong resident of the Trenton area, Judge Litowitz was the first child of Carl Litowitz and Anne (Edelman) Litowitz, both of Trenton. He attended Trenton Central High School and Pennington Prep before attending Rutgers University, where he received his undergraduate and law degrees. At Trenton High, he met Selma Urken. They married in 1951 and he remained devoted to her until her death in 2005.
Judge Litowitz was a veteran of the Korean War, where he served in the Army Counterintelligence Corps. Upon his return to the States, he embarked on a distinguished legal career that began at the law firm of Montis and Litowitz. In 1964, he became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Trenton office of the U.S. Department of Justice. In 1967, he was appointed Judge of Worker’s Compensation, eventually becoming the Chief Judge of Compensation for the State of New Jersey, a position he held for over two decades. During his tenure, Judge Litowitz presided over and decided thousands of cases involving New Jersey workers and employers while earning the admiration and respect of litigants, their attorneys, and court personnel.
In 1990, then-Governor Florio appointed Judge Litowitz Director of New Jersey’s Department of Worker’s Compensation. In that capacity, Judge Litowitz oversaw the State’s Worker’s Compensation system, one of the largest and most complex in the nation. Following retirement from public service in the mid-nineties, Judge Litowitz returned to private practice, becoming of-counsel to the Princeton law firm Hill, Wallack. Judge Litowitz received numerous honors and awards, including The Jack O’Brien Service Award recognizing his contributions and achievements during his distinguished career.
Throughout his adult life, Judge Litowitz was active in the community, serving on the Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks and the Greenwood House, the Jewish Home for the Aged. In 1998, he and Selma received The State of Israel Independence Issue Award, recognizing their years of service and philanthropy.
Judge Litowitz is survived by children Robert (Mariah) of Washington, D.C., Debra Frank of Yardley, Pa., and Carol Golden (Andrew) of Princeton, N.J., grandchildren Dana, Drew, Reid, and Selma Litowitz, David and Matthew Frank, and Jackson and Elliott Golden, a sister, Natalie Fulton, and niece Susan Talbot (Richard). A daughter-in-law, Karen Dubin, predeceased him.
Funeral services were held Sunday, January 12, at Orland’s Ewing Memorial Chapel with burial9 in Fountain Lawn Memorial Park, Ewing, N.J.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions in Judge Litowitz’s memory be made to Greenwood House, 53 Walter Street, Ewing, NJ 08628. www.greenwoodhouse.org.