William “Bill” Judge, a Buildings and Trades skilled plumber in the Maintenance and Operations Department, died Tuesday, Aug. 29 in a motorcycle accident on his way to work at Valley College.
He was headed southbound on the U.S. Highway 5 when his Harley-Davidson motorcycle crashed, The Daily News reported on Tuesday. He was pronounced dead at 4:40 a.m.
Judge began working for LACCD in 2001 at Los Angeles City College. He began working at Pierce College in 2004 before transferring to Valley in April.
“On behalf of everyone who worked with Bill at Los Angeles Pierce College, we add our condolences [to] his family and friends,” Pierce College President Kathleen Burke said in an email.
Judge is survived by his wife and three adult sons, Valley College President Erika A. Endrijonas said in an email.
“He will be missed by everyone who knew him, especially at Valley and Pierce where he worked most recently,” Endrijonas said in the email. “Please keep his family and friends in your thoughts at this difficult time.”
The funeral services occurred on Sept. 8. According to Operations Manager Rodney Allen, the funeral was open to family, friends and coworkers.
A group of Pierce employees attended the funeral to support the family and say their farewells to Judge.
Allen said that when he first heard about Judge’s accident, he was shocked because Judge had been riding motorcycles for a while.
“He had a dirt bike that he would ride to work that was street legal,” Allen said. “He would ride to work often. So, I felt that he was a good rider.”
Judge reported to General Foreman Dominic Gasperi under general trades, but when Gasperi was off campus due to business, Judge would report to Allen.
“Whenever I directed him to do something, he was never a problem,” Allen said. “He was always helpful and helped anybody with everything.”
Pierce College Director of Facilities Paul Neiman said Judge was a hard working employee.
“He was a good person who always did his best for the campus and for his family,” Neiman said during a phone interview. “He will be missed.”
Judge was known for wearing fluorescent shirts so that everybody could see him, Allen said. He joked around a lot and loved to talk about Kansas City football.
“Those damn Kansas City Chiefs,” Allen said. “We all had to hear about them 24/7. I talked to him on Facebook a lot, and we’d go back and forth. He would talk about KC, show pictures and things like that. But it was always KC.”
Although some time has passed since the accident, Allen feels like he still worked there Allen said he is still shocked. Judge transferred to Valley four months ago in April, but it was like he still worked here, Allen said.
Although some time has passed since the accident, Allen said he is still shocked. Judge transferred to Valley four months ago, but according to Allen it’s like he is still working on campus.
“That’s how good of a relationship we had, that he was so familiar,” Allen said. “Some people leave and transfer, but Bill was part of the family.”
