The Treat Award

2025 Treat Award Recipient

Judge Jack R. Puffenberger

Judge Jack R. Puffenberger is currently the Presiding Judge of the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas. He has been the Presiding and Administrative Judge of the Lucas County Common Pleas Court, Probate Division, since 1991. Prior to this, he was twice elected as a Judge of the Toledo Municipal Court in Toledo. He is currently a member of the Ohio Judicial Conference Executive Committee where he co-chairs that organization's Probate Law and Procedure Committee. Judge Puffenberger is also a member of the Executive Committee and a Past President of the Ohio Probate Judges Association, as well as currently serving on the Judicial Advisory Committee.

Judge Puffenberger is a former Trustee of the National College of Probate Judges and a former member of the Board of Governors of the American Judges Association. He has served on the Ohio Supreme Court Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline and the Ohio Supreme Court Commission on the Rules of Practice and Procedure. He is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Lucas County Bar Association and President of the Toledo Legal Aid Society. He is also active in numerous professional and community organizations.

Judge Puffenberger received his B.A. from Kent State University, M.S. from Youngstown State University and J.D. from the University of Toledo College of Law.

The Treat Award for Excellence

The Treat Award for Excellence was established by the National College of Probate Judges (“NCPJ”) in 1978 in honor of Hon. William W. Treat, founder and President Emeritus of NCPJ. Judge Treat was appointed probate judge in Stratham, N.H., in 1958 and served until his retirement in 1983. He founded NCPJ in 1968 and served as its first President. He maintained a second residence in Naples, FL, where he died on January 10, 2010. Judge Treat was a renowned judge, author, diplomat, professor, and banker. He was a graduate of the University of Maine and Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration and received honorary doctor of law degree s from the University of Maine in 1992 and the University of New Hampshire in 2001. In 1991 he received the Silver Shingle Award, the highest alumni award presented by the Law School of Boston University.

Judge Treat’s accomplishments were many and included, among many more:

• Serving as a public delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York in 1987 and 1990;
• Being elected in 1988 by the United Nations Human Rights Commission as the U.S. member of the non -political Sub -Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities at the United Nations Human Rights Centre in Geneva, Switzerland
• Serving as chairman of the New Hampshire Judicial Council; authoring a three -volume text on probate law, Treat on Probate, and actively working in the reformation of the local courts in New Hampshire
• Founder and chairman of Bank Meridian, a national bank with offices in Portsmouth, Exeter, Hampton, and other New Hampshire seacoast communities
• Served as a director of Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
• An original director of Unitil, Inc. – a utility holding company which owns several utility companies in New Hampshire
• Chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party from 1954 to 1958; a member of the Republican National Committee from 1960 to 1964; secretary of the U.S. Electoral College from 1956 to 1964; a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1988; and chairman of the program committee of the 1964 Republican Convention in San Francisco;

Judge Treat was a direct descendant of Gov. Robert Treat, who was colonial governor of Connecticut for 40 years, and a collateral descendant of Robert Treat Paine – a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, the Society of Mayflower Descendants and a former governor of the Society of Colonial Wars. He established the Treat Foundation – a family charitable trust devoted to various charitable purposes.

The Treat Award for Excellence was established by the National College of Probate Judges (“NCPJ”) in 1978 to recognize and encourage achievements in the field of probate law and related fields consistent with the goals of the NCPJ. The College annually selects one individual, a resident of the United States, who has made a significant contribution to the improvement of the law or judicial administration in probate or related fields , which contribution is of outstanding merit. The award is presented at the annual banquet during the Fall NCPJ Conference. The Award Committee consults with leading probate practitioners and judges throughout the country, including members of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and the Trust and Estate Division of the American Bar Associations’s Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section. Nominations usually come from probate practitioners, probate judges, and academic leaders.

Nominations for the award should be submitted no later than July 1 of each year. Nominations should include a brief description of the accomplishments of the nominee and the names of the nominator(s). The recipient is expected to attend the awards ceremony in November and personally accept the award at the annual banquet.