One of the UW Law School’s most prominent alumni, Judge Thomas E. Fairchild, died Monday, February 12, 2007, at the age of 94. Fairchild, a former Wisconsin attorney general , state Supreme Court justice, and federal appeals court judge, was honored each year at the Law School's Fairchild Lecture, which was organized by the judge's former clerks.

Fairchild was a graduate of the UW Law School Class of 1938.

The following article appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal of Wednesday, February 14:

By Deborah Ziff

Tom Fairchild, a former state attorney general, state Supreme Court justice and federal appeals court judge, has died. He was 94.

Fairchild was remembered Tuesday as a magnanimous judge who remained humble and kind all his life.

"I would say he was one of the greatest judges I've ever known, and I've known some great ones" said former Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Heffernan.

Fairchild died Monday at Coventry Village, according to Cress Funeral and Cremation Service in Madison.

He was born in Milwaukee and received a law degree from the UW Law School in 1938. He practiced law in Portage for a few years and was elected as a Democratic attorney general in 1948. He was recruited to run for the post by James Doyle Sr., father of the current governor, who was part of a group trying to revitalize the state Democratic Party.

In 1950, Fairchild reluctantly ran for U.S. Senate against GOP incumbent Alexander Wiley. After Fairchild lost, President Truman appointed him U.S. attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin in 1951.

Fairchild resigned from the post to run against Wisconsin's U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy, whom he accused of "smearing the State Department with wild charges and cruel innuendo." Fairchild lost the spirited campaign.

"He was very important in Wisconsin history," Heffernan said. "Not only by being a very good judge, but during the McCarthy era, he brought a lot of facts to the public."

Fairchild was elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in April 1956, replacing his father on the court, and served until 1966, when President Johnson appointed him to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. He was chief judge from 1975 to 1981 and had been a senior judge since then.

Heffernan, who joined the Supreme Court in 1964, recalled that Fairchild always dressed very conservatively, in dark blue and black garb. When Heffernan asked Fairchild about his apparel, Fairchild responded, "You can get by with a hell of a lot of liberalism if you dress conservative enough."

"When I was on the court, whenever I came across an opinion by Tom, I always considered it a sort of gem," Heffernan said.

State Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson said Fairchild will be remembered as a man who served with "great distinction, not only as a jurist but as a human being."

She said he had a great sense of humor, keeping a stock of limericks in a box. "When I started on the court and had to start making a lot of speeches, I thought I could borrow some of his limericks. But I found they were not suitable for public consumption," Abrahamson said with a chuckle.

John Skilton, an attorney with Heller Ehrman in Madison who clerked for Fairchild in 1969 and 1970, said his former boss was admired for his kindness, legal reasoning and fair treatment to everyone.

"He was well-respected by anyone who came within 30 feet of him," Skilton said.

Fairchild remained active as a senior judge even in his last years, taking the bus most weekdays to the federal courthouse in Downtown Madison from his West Side home.

Some of Fairchild's memorable opinions include a dissenting opinion in a 1957 case where he argued for the acceptance of two black individuals as members of a labor union, and a 1966 decision in which the court overruled a lower court judge and said the National League hadn't broken the state anti-trust law when the Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966.

"Judge Fairchild dedicated his life to public service and to the people of Wisconsin," Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said in a statement Tuesday. "Judge Fairchild was more than an exceptional lawyer and jurist. He was also an exceptional person."

An annual UW Law School lecture series was established in Fairchild's honor in 1988.

"In my opinion, he was the greatest Wisconsin judge of the 20th century," Skilton said. "That's how good he was."

Fairchild is survived by children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Submitted by on February 26, 2007

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