There aren’t many people in law enforcement who would dust off a 40-year-old quote from former New York City Mayor Ed Koch to illustrate a point.
Gene Rubino, the executive assistant Hudson County prosecutor, is not your average law enforcement member.
“Ed Koch said ‘Public service is the noblest of professions, when done honorably and well,’” Rubino said this week, reciting a line from a commencement speech Koch made in 1984. “I’ve always tried to live up to that.”
Those who work with him inside and outside the prosecutor’s office attest to Rubino’s work ethic, and good thing, because after 27 years at the prosecutor’s office there will be no do-overs. Rubino, who turned 56 last week, is officially retired Monday, April 1.
“Losing Gene is terribly unfortunate for us, “ said Prosecutor Esther Suarez, the fifth prosecutor Rubino worked with during a career that started in 1996. “There is no one who works harder. You can’t replace Gene with one person. His institutional knowledge is irreplaceable.”
Rubino started his professional career as emergency medical technician for the Union City volunteer ambulance squad and the Jersey City Medical Center, but once he earned his law degree, he knew his career would be at the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.
“I always wanted to work for the prosecutor’s office,” said Rubino, who grew up in Jersey City and attended Hudson Catholic High School, Montclair State and Cooley Law School in Michigan. “I had a Superior Court judicial clerkship (and then) I went to an interview with a large firm in New Jersey.
“I remember sitting down and a few questions (into the interview) they asked ‘Where do you see yourself in five years? My answer without hesitation was the prosecutor’s office, specifically the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.”
Rubino started as a legal assistant, then six months later assistant prosecutor on his way to the leadership position of executive assistant prosecutor.
“I had a front row seat to the greatest show on earth, particularly when you work in Hudson County,” Rubino said. “When you look out the dashboard sometimes you see a rainbow and sometimes you see a terrible crash.”
In that leadership role, Rubino represented the office in the security planning for the Super Bowl in 2014. He’s also had the unfortunate experience of participating in the investigations of three Jersey City police officers who were killed in the line of duty, Marc DiNardo, Melvin Santiago and Joseph Seals — “one of the most difficult things you have to do.”
Looking back at his 27 years in the office, Rubino takes pride in his role in moving the office — and the science of putting bad guys behind bars — forward.
“Prosecutor Suarez is a forward thinker and a visionary, and that was important to me because I got to be a part of things that will carry on,” Rubino said of the county’s first woman prosecutor, who was appointed in 2015. “Such as the regional SWAT team, the regional crash team, the regional arson team, and things that are coming in the future, the DNA lab.
“Just having any minimal part of that as an office, is pretty significant.”
A key aspect of the job is keeping the lines of communications open between the prosecutor’s office and the surrounding law enforcement agencies and providing resources when necessary.
“It’s important that we have that communication, that partnership and collaboration with the chiefs and the (police) directors as a law enforcement agency,” Rubino said. “The prosecutor’s office can’t do it alone. We need the local agencies to work as one team.”
Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller, president of the Hudson County Police Chiefs Association, calls Gene “the go-to guy.”
“Speaking for all the chiefs, if you need something and you need to get it done, you go to Gene. ... Say I need equipment, or there is a case that needs to be handled differently or handlined delicately — he’s the go-to guy,” Miller said.
Rubino says his upbringing by first-generation American parents pushed him toward public service as “a rewarding way to contribute to the community.” His mom was coat factory seamstress and is father managed to save enough money to open a small business with Rubino’s uncle.
“They instilled in me a sense of hard work. When your mom comes home from a day of work it instills that work value,” he said.
At 56, Rubino may not be ready to stop working altogether. He’s considering his options for chapter 2 of his career.
“No plans,” he says. “I made the right decision 27 years ago and I want to make the right decision again. I’m kind of weighing my options and looking at various opportunities.”