A. Cristol

Capt. A Jay Cristol, USN (Ret.) JD, PhD, entered the U.S. Navy as an aviation cadet in November 1951. As a naval aviator, he flew day and night from the aircraft carrier Princeton during the Korean conflict. Upon return to civilian life, he joined the Naval Air Reserve where, during the 1960s, he flew volunteer missions to Vietnam. He wears the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, and the Navy Achievement Medal among his more than a dozen military decorations. After eighteen years as a naval aviator, he became a Navy lawyer for another twenty years. In civilian life, he concurrently practiced civil law for twenty-five years. He currently serves as a federal judge and teaches law as an adjunct professor at the University of Miami. Cristol was named a Legal Legend by the Historical Society of South Florida in 2011.