Surrogate Judge Robert J. Gigante of Staten Island, N.Y., is known as “the teddy bear judge” and proud of it. He’s earned the title with an annual campaign to collect teddies at Christmas for kids with cancer. In its ninth year, the drive has given away thousands of the stuffed favorites.

The idea developed, Gigante says, because, as a judge, he wasn’t allowed to raise funds for any charity, lest attorneys appearing in front of him felt pressured to give. But having long been involved in philanthropic work, including serving as president of the local Meals on Wheels organization and being active in the American Cancer Society and United Way, among others, he felt a void.

When he read that the cancer society was collecting teddy bears for children hospitalized with cancer, “the light bulb went on. This was the perfect thing for me to be involved in, the perfect conduit for charity work that had been such a part of my life.”

Gigante sent an email throughout the local court system, and posted flyers for court reporters, officers and others who didn’t have email access.

Since the first year, when about 150 teddies were left at his chambers, the voluntary collection has blossomed to over 600 each of the last two years. The growth has enabled the cancer society to broaden distribution to other boroughs and to children recuperating at home as well as in hospitals.

Beginning right after Thanksgiving, teddies are left sprawling all over Gigante’s couch, floor and conference tables.

Particularly gratifying, he says, is that everyone from janitors to fellow judges contribute, including secretaries, court officers, court reporters, attorneys and friends. “To see the janitor and cleaning lady bring their teddy bears, feeling as much pride as the judges do, is overwhelming,” he declares. “They’ve all just been wonderful.”

Noting that every judge and staff in the entire Staten Island court system participate, he adds, “It’s really a tribute to Staten Island court personnel. We’ve been blessed.”

He feels the teddy was chosen by the ACS “because it’s an enduring part of our culture and history and a symbol of hope. … Most recipients don’t know where the bears came from, which is fine with me.”

Because most of the bears are distributed in hospitals, the cancer society requests they all be new and, as an added precaution, white.

Many bears donated in the Christmas campaign wear seasonal ties, hats or gloves. They are of various sizes, a few big enough to occupy the judge’s chair.

But, he emphasizes, “it’s not the size, or the cost, but the fact that people feel good because they know they’re making a child happy.”

Gigante, a former chairman of the local Democratic party, is a graduate of the University of Dayton and the Ohio Northern University School of Law. He began his career as an attorney for the Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Division before entering private practice. He was elected to the Richmond County Supreme Court in 2000 and to the Surrogate Court in 2008.

“One of the nicest things” about being a judge in the surrogate, or probate, court, he says, is doing adoptions. “While judge can perform weddings, marriages don’t always last, but when I sign the adoption paper, they’re a family forever.”

And to each child or infant adopted, Gigante, father of four grown children, gives “another symbol of a good thing,” a teddy (which he buys separately from the Christmas collection).

The “teddy bear judge” knows from personal experience the pleasure of being a teddy recipient. When he had triple by-pass surgery about five years ago, he was presented with a bear, appropriately wearing a judicial robe.

Originally published in the Winter 2011 issue.