The members of the editorial board were shocked and deeply saddened to hear that a beloved member, Thomas J. Ullmann, died in a hiking accident on April 13, 2018, in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. It is the kind of devastating news that is difficult to comprehend, difficult to process. Ullmann was born in New York, and he exemplified the Empire State’s motto, “Excelsior.” Generally translated as “ever upward,” the Latin word signifies superior achievement, a continuing quest for ascendant goals and aspirations. Ullmann’s tragic accident occurred while he was training for a more challenging 10-day hike in Finland later this year.

As a young adult, Ullmann was transplanted to Connecticut, where he sustained and thrived and eventually became a natural resource for our state’s criminal justice system. He met his beloved wife, Diana, while they were students at Quinnipiac University, and he later graduated from University of Connecticut School of Law. After that, it was a professional life dedicated to public service. He worked in the Division of Public Defender Services, first as an investigator and then as an attorney, for 37 years. For the past 25 years he served as the head of the public defender office in the Judicial District of New Haven. Following his death, the flag at the New Haven courthouse on Church Street was flown at half-staff, an honor that had never been bestowed on any other individual.