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Judge Gregory M. Sleet Joins DCF Board of Directors

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The Delaware Community Foundation welcomes Judge Gregory M. Sleet as a new member of its Board of Directors, filling a newly vacant seat.

The first African American to be appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, Sleet served first as judge, chief judge, and later senior judge of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. He served for the District Court for over twenty years before retiring in the fall of 2018.

Born in New York City, N.Y., Sleet graduated from Hampton University, then earned his juris doctor from Rutgers University School of Law where he was an Earl Warren Scholar.

He began his career as an assistant public defender for the Defender Association of Philadelphia, and continued to practice law in Philadelphia until 1990, when he served as deputy attorney general for the Delaware Department of Justice, later joining the law department at Hercules Incorporated.

Sleet has a wide range of law experience, including civil and criminal litigation and corporate law. He also served as an adjunct professor teaching patent litigation at Rutgers Law School, Widener University Delaware Law School and Duke University School of Law.

Sleet was vice chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, where he supported the U.S. Attorney General in policy and strategy for the U.S. Department of Justice. Sleet is also the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award of the NAACP, Central Delaware Branch, was named Delawarean of the Year for Delaware Today, and was named one of Rutgers University’s “Fifty of the Finest” graduates.

Sleet received the 2014 award from the New York Intellectual Property Law Association for outstanding public service as well as the 2014 award from the Philadelphia Intellectual Law Association for achievement in the field of intellectual property. This year, Sleet was awarded the Jefferson Medal for exceptional contribution to the field of intellectual property by the New Jersey Intellectual Property Law Association. Next month he will be inducted into the Rutgers African American Hall of Fame.

“Judge Sleet has demonstrated his dedication to public service in over two decades of experience,” DCF President and CEO Stuart Comstock-Gay said. “We are honored to welcome him to the DCF board.”