William Thomas Kelleher

William T. Kelleher of Somerville, NJ, aged 98, passed away on January 8, 2023.

Bill was born in Somerville on July 14, 1924 and attended Somerville public schools through middle school until his family moved to Hastings on Hudson, NY. He graduated high school from the Dwight School, and received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. After graduation from Annapolis, he served active duty in the US Navy from 1946 to 1949 as a lieutenant aboard the heavy cruisers Macon and Albany and the light cruiser Portsmouth. After being decommissioned in the post-war Navy, he entered Rutgers Law School. During law school he was recalled to active duty by the Navy to serve in the Korean Conflict and was appointed to be an instructor at the Navy Officer’s Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island from 1952 to 1953. He then completed law school and was admitted to the NJ bar in 1954. Bill practiced law in the Somerville area for decades at the Allgair, King and Kelleher law firm founded by his father-in-law, Judge George W. Allgair, and retired from the firm of Kelleher and Moore 49 years later in 2003. From 1967 to 1980, he also served as the Municipal Court Judge for Somerville.

Bill’s involvement in his community extended to serving on the Board of Directors for the Somerset Medical Center for more than thirty years (following in his grandfather’s footsteps, Dr. Thomas Flynn, one of the nine founding physicians of that institution). He also served as a director of the Raritan Savings Bank and the State Bank of Raritan Valley. In 1965, he was a founder of Somerset Car Wash, Inc. (now Bridgewater Nissan) and remained an officer of that company until his death.

In 1950, Bill married “my beautiful bride” Mary T. Allgair and they enjoyed a marriage of 71 years until her death on March 29, 2022. Bill had a convivial spirit and an easy charm, hosting many memorable poolside “luaus” with friends and family at their home in Somerville. His warmth and self-deprecating sense of humor was infectious, and through stories of his Naval adventures, world travels with Mary, or just recounting a piece of Somerville history from his childhood, he was able to delight those around him. He was also a devout Roman Catholic and was a parishioner at the Church of The Immaculate Conception in Somerville.

Bill is predeceased by his parents John and Agnes Kelleher and his sister Dorothy Kelleher.

Surviving him is his son William T. Kelleher, Jr. and his wife Heidi, his son John A. Kelleher and his wife Jane, his granddaughter Margaret Kelleher and her husband Gavin Millard, his granddaughter Ellis Kelleher and her husband Eamonn Quinn, his great grandchildren Declan and Gideon, his brother-in-law and his wife Drs. George and Janet Allgair and his niece and nephew Suzanne Allgair (husband Stan Erdreich) and George Allgair III (wife Luceli), his great nieces and family friends.

The family would like to express their appreciation to the dedicated staff members of Laurel Circle, Atlantic Home Health Care, and Serenity Hospice for the care they gave Bill in the final years of his life.

Guests are asked to follow mask and social distancing guidelines for the funeral.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made, in Bill’s memory, to the Church of The Immaculate Conception, 35 Mountain Avenue, Somerville, NJ 08876, or The Somerset Health Care Foundation, 110 Rehill Avenue, Somerville, NJ 08876 or donate online .