Hon. Stuart D. Bear (Ret.) is a judge trial referee for the Connecticut Appellate Court. He was first appointed a judge of the state’s Appellate Court by former Governor Mary Jodi Rell in 2010. Bear retired after reaching the mandatory age of retirement in 2014. He continued to preside as a judge trial referee.
Bear began his judicial career as a judge for the Middlesex Judicial District Superior Court in 2003. Prior to joining the bench, he practiced for thirty years as an attorney at Zeldes, Needle & Cooper.
Bear received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in 1965. He went on to complete an LL.B. at Harvard Law School in 1968. Bear was admitted to practice in Connecticut (1968), the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (1968), the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1971), and the United States Supreme Court (1972).
At the time of his appointment to the Appellate Court, he resided in West Hartford with his wife, Cheryl Chase.