ADAs honor outgoing Acting DA John Ryan at holiday party

Assistant District Attorneys Association President Todd Greenberg (right) honored outgoing Acting DA John Ryan at their annual holiday party Wednesday. Eagle photos by Caroline Ourso.

By Caroline Ourso

Special to the Eagle

Queens County Acting District Attorney John “Jack” Ryan celebrated the end of his career at a party hosted by the Queens County Assistant District Attorney’s Association in Douglaston on Wednesday, saying farewell after a prolific, decades-long tenure serving the borough.

Dozens gathered to send Ryan off with fond remarks and holiday cheer. He will retire when his term as acting DA ends Dec. 31 and DA-elect Melinda Katz takes over the office Jan. 1.

“Jack has been such an integral part of all of our lives,” said Todd Greenberg, a partner at Addabbo & Greenberg and the ADA Association president. “Jack is part of the history of our county.”

Greenberg recounted multiple cases Ryan was involved in throughout his career, including the prosecution of David Berkowitz, the infamous Son of Sam serial killer.

“This is somebody who really was an architect in criminal justice,” said Executive Assistant District Attorney Robert Masters.

“In 1992, the first year he came back, this county had a murder a day,” Masters continued, referring the year Ryan returned to the Queens DA’s Office after working in the state Attorney General’s Office. “And over the last four years, we’ve been averaging a murder a week.”

“This county of 2.4 million people owe him so much.”