Chief Justice Moyer death: ‘A huge tragedy’

April 3, 2010 at 12:09a.m.

Staff/wire report

COLUMBUS

Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, the longest-serving current state Supreme Court chief justice in the United States, died Friday at age 70.

Moyer was admitted to a Columbus hospital Thursday morning after experiencing gastrointestinal problems and died Friday afternoon, court spokesman Chris Davey said. Over the past few months Moyer had health problems that weren’t believed to be life-threatening.

Moyer, the second-longest-serving Ohio chief justice in state history, became chief justice in 1987. He had planned to retire after finishing his current term at the end of the year.

Justice Paul Pfeifer, who met Moyer when both were students at Ohio State University law school, said he and his colleagues were brought to tears.

“It’s just a huge tragedy for all of us and a great loss for his family and for the citizens of Ohio,” he said. “He was the quintessential image, and not just image but the reality of dignity of the office of chief justice, and of the role of the courts in our society.”

Pfeifer said Moyer’s health had deteriorated over the past weeks but he was in court on Tuesday, despite looking “very ill,” and returned Wednesday looking much better.

“I am so disappointed for him and his family that we weren’t able to do ... a very grand party at the end of his 24 years as chief justice,” Pfeifer said. “He was deprived of that honor, but knowing Tom he also would have been proud of himself to be able to preside right up to the end of his life.”

In Youngstown, Moyer toured Municipal Court and commented on the poor conditions there, and he played a role in having those conditions analyzed.

“Frankly, this building reminds me very much of some buildings in the Ukraine, which in some ways is a third-world country,” he told municipal court employees at the time.

Youngstown Municipal Court Judge Elizabeth A. Kobly said Justice Moyer’s visit was part of an analysis and report done by the Supreme Court.

More recently, he responded to a letter from Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams and a lawsuit the municipal court judges filed with the Ohio Supreme Court last May by assigning the dispute to a mediation meeting in July, but Judge Kobly said Friday night that nothing constructive ever resulted from it.

“We have been stuck in mediation since the meeting. There’s been no progress. It’s been an extremely frustrating experience,” Judge Kobly said, adding that there have been no additional meetings since the one in July.

She added that Justice Moyer had to remain neutral in the matter because if mediation were unsuccessful, Justice Moyer would have had to preside over a trial relating to the lawsuit.