By Mike Dunn

VENTNOR, N.J. (CBS) — Philadelphia’s legal and political community is mourning the death of Common Pleas judge Adam Beloff, whose body was found at his Ventnor, NJ home on Saturday after an apparent suicide.

US congressman Bob Brady (D-Phila.), who runs the Democratic City Committee, calls the death of Judge Beloff a tragedy.

“He was very classy guy, a real nice man,” Brady said today.  “I had a lot of conversations with him.  He said he had his dream job, and he was extremely thankful.”

Ventnor police on Saturday responded to a call from the judge’s home on Wellington Avenue and found him dead at the scene.

Beloff, 48, was serving his first term as a Common Pleas judge, presiding over cases in the criminal division.

Before becoming a judge, he shared a practice with his wife, Hope Beloff, specializing in family law.  Reports say he is distantly related to former Philadelphia city councilman Leland (Lee) Beloff.

Brady said Adam Beloff was hard-working and “a very good judge.”   He said he knew Beloff had had “a little bit of a domestic issue,” but thought it was being worked out.

Autopsy results were pending.