George Francis Kugler Jr. (March 26, 1925 – August 1, 2004) was an American lawyer who served as

New Jersey Attorney General The attorney general of New Jersey is a member of the executive cabinet of the state and oversees the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Department of Law and Public Safety. The office is appointed by the governor of New Jersey, confi ...

from 1970 to 1974.

Biography

Kugler was born on March 26, 1925, in

Woodbury, New Jersey Woodbury is a city in and the county seat of Gloucester County in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

. He attended the

Peddie School The Peddie School is a non-denominational, coeducational college preparatory school located on a campus in Hightstown, Mercer County, New Jersey, USA that serves boarding and day students in the ninth through twelfth grades, as well as po ...

Hightstown Hightstown is a borough in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Nestled within the Raritan Valley region, Hightstown is an historic, commercial, and cultural hub of Central New Jersey, along with being a diverse outer-ring commuter ...

, graduating in 1943. He enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

after graduation, serving in the Pacific Theater of Operations in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was discharged in 1946 and then attended

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

, receiving a B.S. degree in 1950. He attended

Rutgers School of Law–Camden Rutgers Law School is the law school of Rutgers University, with classrooms in Newark and Camden, New Jersey. It is the largest public university, public law school and the 10th largest law school, overall, in the United States. Each class in the ...

, where he was Associate Editor of the Law Review, and received his

LL.B. A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degree in 1953. Kugler worked for many years as a civil trial attorney with the Camden law firm Brown, Connery, Kulp, & Wille. He was certified in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in 1954, the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

in 1957, and the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in 1960. In 1970, Governor William T. Cahill appointed him

. He is credited with professionalizing the Attorney General's office, transforming it into a nonpolitical prosecutorial agency. He served until 1974. Kugler returned to private practice, working as civil litigator with the Haddonfield firm of Archer & Greiner. He died in 2004 at the age of 79 at Virtua-West Jersey Hospital in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. He was survived by his wife, the former Gloria Hicks, and their four sons: George F. Kugler III; Robert B. Kugler, judge of the

United States District Court for the District of New Jersey The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (in case citations, D.N.J.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Third Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. gover ...

; Jeffrey R. Kugler; and Pete Kugler, who played for several years in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

, including in three

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

s and was a resident of

Cherry Hill, New Jersey Cherry Hill is a Township (New Jersey), township within Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As a suburb of Philadelphia, the township is part of the South Jersey and Delaware Valley regions. Cherry Hill ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kugler, George F. Jr. 1925 births 2004 deaths New Jersey attorneys general United States Navy personnel of World War II Politicians from Cherry Hill, New Jersey Politicians from Woodbury, New Jersey Rutgers School of Law–Camden alumni Temple University alumni 20th-century American lawyers Peddie School alumni 20th-century New Jersey politicians