Brady calls it a career

Attorney John Brady has held many titles in his long professional career, including deputy attorney general, Sussex County Clerk of the Peace and Eagle Scout leader. Now, he has another one – retired.

Brady announced his retirement May 2, after 32 years as a member of the Delaware Bar and 16 as a state employee.

He has been battling health issues for many years and has had an artificial heart since 2017. On June 13, Brady will turn 65.

“I wish my health had held out so I could be a lawyer longer. I didn’t take good care of my health. If I had, I would still be able to practice law that I love,” he said.

But after decades of serving Delaware and countless individuals, it is hard to let go. “I’ve always tried to help people. I was never in it for the money,” he said.

He is still on a mission to help people.

Brady is a member of the Rotary Club, a political consultant and tutor for law students who are taking the bar exam. He also hosts a segment on WGMD radio every Friday afternoon. “I feel like I’m still helping the community,” he said.

Brady has also been a legal analyst for local TV stations, a law librarian in Georgetown and a state regulatory specialist who investigated complaints against employees.

Brady’s longtime partner, Joshua Davis, died in 2010. Brady is currently married to Julian Zualaga Castano.

Brady was born in Pennsylvania and grew up in Wilmington. He attended Salesianum School before graduating from the University of Richmond and Widener University Law School.

“My father was my biggest role model. He was a Delaware lawyer for 62 years,” Brady said. John P. “Jack” Brady died in 2021 at the age of 94.

The younger Brady started out to be a doctor. “I had a rough time in biology and switched to political science,” he said, because he wanted to be a city manager.

Brady said the biggest accomplishment in his law career was being a volunteer attorney in the state Office of the Child Advocate, representing children in court.

He said he also did pro bono work for people to help them keep their homes.

Brady said the toughest but most rewarding work was writing wills for people who were dying of AIDS in the late 1990s. He cited an example of a man who had moved to Delaware from Virginia.

“When he died, his parents came to see me since I had done the paperwork. They didn’t think their son’s lifestyle would allow them to have a Catholic funeral. I called a priest I knew and got them the funeral mass at St. Michael’s in Georgetown,” Brady said.

He later helped that church recover money after the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington filed for bankruptcy.

Brady took his call to public service into elected office in 2001. In the span of 11 years, he won seven out of nine elections in which he was a candidate, most as a Republican. He switched to the Democratic Party in 2010. 

Brady was elected to three Sussex County row offices: register in chancery, recorder of deeds and clerk of the peace. He lost a statewide race for insurance commissioner.

Brady was the first openly gay elected official in Delaware.

“I don’t think I broke the barrier, but I put a big dent in it getting through,” he said. “Now there are five openly gay elected officials in Dover. As my part of the Delaware Way, I’ve tried to move forward.”

Brady’s election as clerk of the peace came at a historic time. Brady performed the first legal same-sex marriages in the state starting July 1, 2013. He performed more than 1,000 marriages in his four-year term.

Brady did not run for re-election in 2016, choosing to step aside to let younger people have opportunities.

“We have a good cadre of public servants in local, county and city governments and on school boards,” he said. “Young people need to know that being a public servant is a great career.”

Now that he is retired, Brady also has time to focus on another of his loves – scouting. He proudly displays his many scouting awards in his living room.

Brady joined the scouts in 1967 and rose up the ranks to the top level of Eagle Scout as a teenager. After college, he became a professional scouter, holding positions in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Virginia and Delaware. Brady still serves on two national scouting committees.

In 2023, Brady received the Founders Award, one of scouting’s highest honors. It is given to one scout and one scout leader each year for outstanding service to the local council and lodge.

“I want to go back to see some of the [scout] camps, see what I did in the ’80s and ’90s and how they’re playing out today,” Brady said.

“As scouting told us, I always tried to do my best. I hope that my reputation will be that John is a good person, always helps out and gives his heart so hard he had to get an artificial one,” he said.