Shirley Tolentino

Shirley Tolentino (1943–2010) was the first black woman to serve on the New Jersey Superior Court and was the first Black woman appointed to the Jersey City Municipal Court and to serve as its presiding judge. She served as president of National Association of Women Judges.

Background Born and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey, Tolentino graduated from Henry Snyder High School. She earned a bachelor's degree in Latin from the College of St. Elizabeth (CSE) in 1965. She taught high school Latin and English before earning her J.D. degree from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1971. She received a master of laws degree in criminal justice from New York University School of Law in 1980.

Career Shirley Tolentino was the first Black woman to serve on the Superior Court and was the first Black woman appointed to the Jersey City Municipal Court and to serve as its presiding judge.

Tolentino worked as a legal editor for Prentice-Hall from 1971 to 1972 and as an adjudicator for the Veterans Administration from 1972 to 1973. She was elevated to presiding judge in 1981.

In 2014, a new postal facility on MLK Drive in Jackson Hill, Jersey City was designated the Shirley A. Tolentino Post Office Building in her honor.