diff --git a/tools/release/java/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/tools/docs/StableAPI.java b/tools/release/java/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/tools/docs/StableAPI.java
index f26322f4fd0..9444bbe4b72 100644
--- a/tools/release/java/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/tools/docs/StableAPI.java
+++ b/tools/release/java/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/tools/docs/StableAPI.java
@@ -528,6 +528,7 @@ public class StableAPI {
 
         static private String replList[] = {  "[ ]*\\([ ]*void[ ]*\\)[ ]*",   "()",  // cleanup
                                               " , ", ", ",                // cleanup
+                                              "[ ]*\\*[ ]*", "* ",
                                               "[ ]*=[ ]*0[ ]*$", "=0",      // cleanup pure virtual
                                               "\\)[ ]*const", ") const",  // This just cleans up the spacing.