Portrait of late Justice Allen Smith unveiled at town justice court

The late Riverhead Town Justice Allen Smith was memorialized Thursday in a ceremony unveiling a portrait of him that will remain in the town Justice Court. 

Judge Smith died in July 2020 after more than 45 years of public service. He was 77.

He was Riverhead Town supervisor from 1975-80, a Riverhead Fire Department volunteer, a member of Riverhead Rotary, a board of education member and an assistant district attorney.

“His dedication to the community was literally beyond compare,” said current Justice Lori Hulse.

The late judge and Southampton Town Justice Deborah Kooperstein helped form the East End Regional Intervention Court, also known as “drug court,” for which they underwent extensive training. 

Former Riverhead Justice Richard Ehlers said that “Allen put his heart” into efforts to move the town justice court into the Route 58 Armory.

“It broke his heart when he had to face the reality that the Town Board didn’t have the willpower” to move ahead with the new court, Mr. Ehlers said.

Vicki Sullivan, an award-winning portrait artist from Melbourne, Australia, created the portrait. It hangs next to a portrait in the justice court of the late Justice Henry Saxtein, who was good friends with Judge Smith.

Attorney Jonathan Brown, who shared an office with Judge Smith, said the late judge got a group of people together 20 years ago to commission a painting of Judge Saxtein.

Likewise, a number of people got together and started the processes for Judge Smith’s portrait.

Mr. Brown and Charlene Mascia, the resource coordinator for the drug court, as well as Mr. Smith’s partner, unveiled the painting at a brief ceremony Thursday afternoon.

“He had common sense, he understood the people in Riverhead and he never lost sight of fairness and justice,” Judge Hulse said.

Judge Smith was the News-Review’s 2019 Public Servant of the Year.