Gov. Christie. many others, expected at Sheridans' memorial service

Gov. Christie is among the dignitaries expected to speak at Tuesday morning's memorial service for Cooper University Health System CEO, John P. Sheridan, and his wife, Joyce.

Also scheduled to offer tributes are former governors Christie Whitman and Thomas H. Kean Sr., as well as Cooper Board of Trustees chairman George E. Norcross III, according to a Sheridan family friend.

The friend, Tom Wilson, a lobbyist and former GOP state committee chairman, said Sheridan relatives and other friends will also speak at the 11 a.m. service at the Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton. A private funeral is also planned for the family.

The couple was found unresponsive in the master bedroom of their home in Montgomery Township, Somerset County on Sept. 29. Emergency crews were called for smoke coming from the house at about 6:15 a.m.

Authorities said the fire, contained to the couple's second-floor bedroom, is an arson, but they have not provided further details on who set the blaze or why. The fire, and cause and manner of the deaths, remain under investigation pending further tests, said Capt. Jack Bennett of the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office.

The Sheridans spent decades in public service. John Sheridan, 72, was the state transportation commissioner for Gov. Kean, and served on the board of trustees for the Carrier Clinic, a nonprofit psychiatric hospital in Belle Mead. Joyce Sheridan, 69, was a retired history teacher who taught for more than 15 years in the Cedar Grove and South Brunswick public school systems. The couple had been married 47 years.

Whitman said in an interview Monday that it was important to remember the Sheridans, regardless of what the authorities determine caused their deaths.

"When you don't know what happened, it's rife for speculation," she said. "There will be all sorts of conspiracy theories. That's the hardest thing."

"Whatever happens," she added, "let's talk about the people they were."

Whitman said she would remember the Sheridans as "dedicated public servants" who have left "a real void."

John Sheridan served on Whitman's transition team.

The mysterious circumstances surrounding the deaths has shocked those who knew the couple. On Meadow Run Drive in Skillman, neighbors saw the couple decorating for Halloween the day before the fire. In Trenton, the state Assembly observed a moment of silence. At Cooper University Hospital in Camden, Sheridan was expected back to work as usual that Monday.

"They are a family who has given a lot of their lives to serving the state in one way or another," Wilson said. "They were pillars of New Jersey's community and their mark was clearly left on the state."

Gov. Kean on Monday spoke highly of John Sheridan.

"John was maybe one of the best transportation commissioners the state ever had," Kean said. "A tremendous amount was done under his leadership. Beyond that, he was a totally decent person. Basically all his life he tried to serve the public one way or another."

At Cooper, the board of trustees had selected a successor more than two years ago when Sheridan announced he would retire next year, said Lori Shaffer, a hospital spokeswoman.

Adrienne Kirby had been serving with Sheridan as a co-CEO and co-president and has been overseeing hospital and ambulatory operations and the physician organization at Cooper.

She had been working very closely with Sheridan in his role as a leader in redevelopment of Cooper Health Sciences Campus, Shaffer said. Kirby was previously president of Medstar Franklin Square Medical Center in Baltimore.