Cooper CEO Sheridan, wife remembered at Trenton memorial service

Four current and former governors of New Jersey came together to honor John and Joyce Sheridan at a memorial service Tuesday in Trenton.Hundreds of others joined them at the War Memorial’s 1,800-seat Patriots Theatre, according to a published report, as they remembered the CEO and president of Camden-based Cooper University Health System and his wife, who died Sept. 28.

According to an NJ Advance Media report, Gov. Chris Christie and former Govs. Jim Florio, Tom Kean and Christie Whitman were all in attendance at the ceremony Tuesday.

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John Sheridan held positions in Kean’s cabinet and served on gubernatorial transition teams for Whitman and Christie, according to the report.

“I can’t imagine the pain and the loss that the Sheridans are feeling right now,” Christie said, according to NJ Advance Media. “We’re here for you.”

Another prominent New Jersey figure who was in attendance was George E. Norcross III, chairman of the board of trustees for Cooper University Health System.

“The city of Camden is a different place because of his vision,” Norcross said of John Sheridan, according to the report. “We mourn a great leader. But his legacy will continue.”

John Sheridan was 72 and Joyce Sheridan was 69 at the time of their deaths. The bedroom at their Montgomery home burned in a fire that the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office has ruled intentional, but no cause of death for either has been released.

Below is the obituary for the Sheridans:

Joyce Carol and John Patrick Sheridan Jr. of Montgomery died on Sunday, September 28, 2014.

The couple is survived by four sons: Mark and his wife Jennifer, Matt, Dan, and Tim, as well as their three grandchildren, Quinn, Caroline, and Jack.

John and Joyce married in Bloomfield, New Jersey, in 1967. They celebrated their 47^th year anniversary on August 26.

Joyce, the daughter of the late Olga and George Mitchko, was born on May 30, 1945, and raised in Lincoln Park. She graduated from Boonton High School and East Stroudsburg State College in Pennsylvania. Joyce was a history teacher in the Cedar Grove and South Brunswick Public School Systems for more than 15 years. After retirement, Joyce devoted much time to her grandchildren and had many hobbies, including knitting, gardening, and antiquing with John.

John was born to the late Rita T. and John P. Sheridan in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on September 7, 1942. He graduated from Seton Hall Prep School. He is a graduate of St. Peter’s College and Rutgers Law School. He served in the United States Army from 1968 through 1970.

At the time of his death, John was the President and CEO of the Cooper Health System. He also was a member of the Cooper Health System Board of Trustees.

Before joining Cooper, he was a senior partner and co-chairman of the law firm of Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti, LLP. He served for a number of years as general counsel to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the Carrier Clinic. He served on the board of trustees of the Carrier Clinic for 25 years.

John served in the cabinet of Gov. Thomas H. Kean as commissioner of Transportation and as chairman of the board of the New Jersey Transit Corporation from 1982 to 1985. He served as deputy attorney general of the state of New Jersey, assistant counsel to Gov. William T. Cahill, and Counsel to the New Jersey Senate Minority.

John and Joyce were loved by a large extended family, which includes their siblings, Mary Mitchko, Peter and Connie Mitchko, and the Rev. James Mitchko, James and Marianne Sheridan, Peter and Barbara Sheridan, Rose Sheridan, Ann Sheridan, Sheri Nicholas and the late Rev. Stephen E. Sheridan. They will be missed by their many nieces and nephews.

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