The New York Bar Associated also released a statement:

“We are saddened to learn of the death of Sheila Abdus-Salaam, associate judge of the New York State Court of Appeals,” said New York State Bar Association President Claire P. Gutekunst. "Judge Abdus-Salaam, 65, was taken to a pier on the Hudson River and was pronounced dead by paramedics shortly after 2 p.m. "The police were investigating how she ended up in the river, and it was not clear how long Judge Abdus-Salaam, who lived nearby in Harlem, had been missing. Abdus-Salaam, an associate judge on the New York Court of Appeals, was described by Mayor Bill de Blasio as “a humble pioneer” and by Gov. Now, as someone who has appeared a number of times before Congress, I can tell you just how extraordinary that is.” In announcing his nomination of Abdus-Salaam for Court of Appeals, Cuomo called the judge one of the state’s “most respected and experienced jurists” and praised her for having risen from “working class roots.” At a 2015 event in Brooklyn celebrating Black History Month, Abdus Salaam credited her mother’s efforts raising her and her siblings in Washington. Cuomo released a statement calling her a “pioneer” and a “force for good whose legacy will be felt for years to come.”

The New York Court of Appeals released the following statement Wednesday night:

The New York Court of Appeals was saddened to learn today of the passing of Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam, a most beloved colleague since she joined the Court in May 2013. Her loss will be truly felt among all jurists.”

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said in a statement he was “shocked and saddened” by news of the judge’s death, adding that Abdus-Salaam was “a dedicated public servant who served New York with honor and distinction as the first African-American woman to sit on the Court of Appeals....Her passing leaves a void that will be difficult to fill.”

Abdus-Salaam, a Washington, D.C., native and 1974 graduate of Barnard College, graduated from Columbia University Law School in 1977 and started a career as a staff attorney at East Brooklyn Legal Services Corp., according to her profile on the state Office of Court Administration’s website. She began her career as a staff attorney at East Brooklyn Legal Services, served as an assistant attorney general in the New York State Department of Law, Civil Rights and Real Estate Financing bureaus, and served as general counsel for the New York City Office of Labor Services. “Although she dropped out of school, my mother realized that a good education would help us escape the poverty that we were trapped in.” In the wake of the news of her death Wednesday, Judge Jonathan Lippman, former chief judge of the New York State Court of Appeals, said the court “has suffered a terrible blow.” “It’s just so shocking,” Lippman said.
Sheila Abdus-Salaam, an incumbent associate judge of the New York Court of Appeals and the first African-American woman to serve on the Court of Appeals is found dead in the Hudson River.