Work: Retired District Judge
Spouse: Barbara
2 Children
3 Grandchild
Information update: 9/27/2014

When if left high school I did not have a plan or a clue (this comes as no great surprise to those of you who knew me).

My college was selected long before my graduation given my grandfather's involvement in the establishment of UMD. After a spectacularly mediocre college performance it seemed I was faced with two choices, the wholesale plumbing and heating business (Duluth Plumbing and Supply) or the Republic of South Vietnam; at the time neither were particularly appealing. A friend talked about his plans of going to law school and that thought appealed to me. So I began law school in '65 at William Mitchell. For the most part of law school I worked at West Publishing Company on the editorial staff. (If you are what you read, law, day and night, I must have been even less fun than I was in high school.) Law school years were pretty lucky for me; I won a car, met my bride, Barb (at a drunken brawl that neither of us wanted to be at and just before the gendarmes arrived), graduated and after passed the bar and drew a draft number in the mid two-hundreds (unlike my father who was number 158, the first draft number drawn in World War Two).

We moved to Cambridge because I found a job there. I started in the practice and over the years did a couple of stints as an assistant county attorney and assistant public defender. I eventually developed a specialty in food law; anything that put food on the table, I did it. I was appointed to the bench and took the oath of office in 1986 and have been there ever since. Eventually Barb got back into teaching and just retired last year. We sold the home we were in for 35+ years and built the "you can live on one floor" house not too far away.

We have two children of whom we are extremely proud, Janelle and Ryan. Janelle is Senor Director on the Tostitos brand at Frito Lay. Ryan is a certified financial planner. We have one granddaughter, Maya, who is an activate bi-lingual 2.5 year old and, of course, we're hoping for more in the not-too-distant future.

Our recreation the last couple of years has centered on trips to Texas for visits with the Maya. In between those I try to jog a bit (slowly), get to the gym once in a while (not enough), play a little golf (terribly) and try to sneak in a hunting or fishing trip once in awhile. I also wake up in stark terror about what I will do when they make me quit this job. Barb worries more than I about that scenario.

We have had at least our shares of downers, but certainly enough uppers to make it a very good ride. In the words of Frank Sinatra, "Regrets, I've had a few, but too few too mention." We have been blessed and we are grateful.