‘His shoes will be hard to fill’: Queens legal community mourns Mark Weliky

Mark Weliky, the executive director of the Queens Volunteer Lawyers Project, passed away from brain cancer at the age of 76. Photo courtesy of QCBA

By Noah Powelson

For countless Queens residents who felt lost in the legal system when suddenly faced with threats of foreclosure, bankruptcy or debt collection, their saving grace was Mark Weliky.

For more than 25 years, Weliky was the executive director of the Queens Volunteer Lawyers Project, a nonprofit legal assistance program sponsored by the Queens County Bar Association that connects low-income and indigent Queens residents with attorneys, free of charge. Under Weliky’s leadership, QVLP served tens of thousands of Queens residents facing civil suits that otherwise could have cost them their homes or completely upended their lives.

But low-income residents of the World’s Borough lost one of their strongest advocates when Weliky passed away on July 23 following a months-long fight with brain cancer. He was 76.

A longtime fixture in the QCBA who was regularly seen manning the organization’s registration table or selling raffle tickets for events, Weliky’s passing was a shock to many in the Queens legal community who viewed him as a friend and mentor.

Jonathan Riegel, the QCBA’s executive director, said the success and growth of QVLP can widely be credited to Weliky.

It was Weliky, Riegel said, who secured the funding and filed the paperwork that kept QVLP staffed with the resources needed to help thousands of Queens residents with their civil cases each year.

“Mark is probably single-handedly responsible for finding grant funding QVLP has received over the years and receives to this day to allow it to function,” Riegel told the Eagle. “Mark had the perspective of, ‘let's help as many people as we can, and if someone needs help, we find a way.’”

Weliky became an attorney after leaving a job as a technician at the New York Telephone Company, which would later become Verizon. He attended night school to earn his law degree, and decided to focus his practice on public interest law.

When Weliky became the QVLP’s executive director in 2001, taking over from founder Ivan Werner, QVLP only had two staff attorneys on hand. Under Weliky’s watch, QVLP grew to employ as many as five staff attorneys, while also connecting Queens residents with a roster of more than 200 volunteer lawyers.

For indigent Queens residents who often face banks or landlords with teams of attorneys on call in court, QVLP was often their only lifeline. QVLP has assisted countless Queens residents with evictions, foreclosures, divorces, consumer debt cases, bankruptcies and the drafting and execution of wills.

Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, QVLP continued to operate a consumer debt clinic and assisted clients with their housing needs.

“That's going to be his enduring legacy,” Riegel said. “We will carry that legacy on.”

Queens Supreme Court Justice Sandra Munoz, a longtime friend of Weliky who also worked at QVLP, said the program thrived because of the passion Weliky showed every client and every case.

“He was such a community guy,” Munoz said. “He really loved what he was doing.”

“I never heard him complain once about what he was doing,” she added.

But Weliky’s impact went beyond QVLP’s legal services. Over the years, Weliky mentored numerous attorneys, many of whom have become fixtures of the Queens legal community.

Kristen Dubowski-Barba was one of those mentees.

Dubowski-Barba first met Weliky when she interviewed for a staff attorney position at QVLP. It was one of the first job interviews she had done as a new attorney, and Dubowski-Barba recalled feeling intimidated when she walked through the QCBA’s front doors. But within seconds, Dubowski-Barba said, that trepidation disappeared once she realized how kind and caring Weliky was.

Weliky hired her for the role, and Dubowski-Barba worked alongside him for more than 15 years. It was also from that job that Dubowski-Barba became increasingly invested in QCBA, where she eventually became president in 2025.

The Queens Volunteer Lawyers Project continues services as the search for a new leader is underway. Photo courtesy of QCBA

“Mark had such an impact on my life,” Dubowski-Barba told the Eagle. “I learned a lot of the law from him, I learned a lot of my skills as an attorney…His loss is, personally, devastating. And professionally, a loss for the Queens legal community.”

A tall man often seen in the office wearing his iconic suspenders, Weliky was a storyteller known for his passion for his work, his family and his daily commute.

Many QCBA employees said they remember Weliky standing by their desk, excitedly sharing the details of his week and his thoughts on the Mets, city traffic, food, the Rangers, the QCBA, his garden, his family and everything else that was important in his life.

Dubowski-Barba said that when she thinks of Weliky, she thinks of all the times he stood by her cubicle when she worked at QVLP, sharing stories with each other.

“That's the image that comes to my head,” Dubowski-Barba said. “Us just catching up, and telling me about his adventures...that friendship.”

Munoz, who worked alongside Weliky for 25 years, recalled similar memories. Another of Weliky’s mentees, Munoz described him as eager to collaborate and serve those around him. In all the years she knew him, Munoz said, she doesn't think she has ever had to leave him a voicemail – he always answered.

“When you called him, he picked up the phone,” Munoz said. “He was very kind, always willing to help, always concerned about the litigants that were in his program.”

QVLP continues on without Weliky, with Riegel taking on a temporary leadership role in the program.

But much of QVLP’s future is unknown as Riegel and the QVLP board look for a permanent executive director and consider potential expansions of the project. But Riegel said QVLP will continue to offer the same services to the indigent Queens residents that Weliky dedicated his life to.

“His shoes will be hard to fill,” Riegel said. “But so long as I'm involved in management in whatever capacity with QVLP, that legacy is what will drive me to make sure the organization continues in a way that honors that legacy and helps those members of our community who need it.”