AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Jack Pope, a retired chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court who helped establish formal judicial education for Texas judges, has died at the age of 103.
Pope died Saturday at his Austin home, said Osler McCarthy, a staff attorney and spokesman for the Texas Supreme Court.
He had been in declining health for several months and was under hospice care, McCarthy said
Pope served as a judge in Texas for 38 years, including as a district court judge, court of appeals justice and on the Supreme Court, the last two as chief justice.
He served on the Texas Supreme Court, the state’s highest civil court, from 1964 to 1985.
As chief justice, Pope worked to guarantee funding for legal assistance for the poor. During his legal career, Pope also worked for years for judicial education, assisted in founding the Texas Center for the Judiciary, a judicial-education institute, and signed the order mandating education for Texas judges.
“He devoted his life not only to the efficient administration of justice, but also to ensuring that justice is available to all,” former Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson said. “Jack Pope will be remembered as second to none in the annals of Texas law.”
By the time he retired in 1985, he had written 1,032 court opinions.
Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan L. Hecht called Pope a “judicial icon.”
“His hard work, scholarship, common sense, humor, and integrity are legendary,” Hecht said. “No Texas judge has ever been more committed to serving the rule of law and the cause of justice. He was my mentor, role model, counselor, and most especially, my friend. Texas has lost a great, great man.”
Pope, who was born in Abilene, earned his law degree from the University of Texas in 1938 and began practicing law in Corpus Christi. After serving in the Navy during WWII, Pope returned to Corpus Christi and became a district judge. He was elected to the San Antonio Court of Appeals in 1951 and served on that court for more than a decade before he was elected to the Texas Supreme Court in 1964.
Pope is survived by two sons and three grandchildren.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Jack Pope, a retired chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court who helped establish formal judicial education for Texas judges, has died at the age of 103.
Osler McCarthy, a staff attorney and spokesman for the Texas Supreme Court, says Pope died Saturday at his Austin home.
McCarthy said Pope had been in declining health for several months and was under hospice care.
Pope served in Texas for 38 years as a district court judge, court of appeals justice and on the Supreme Court, the last two as chief justice.
By the time he retired in 1985, he had written 1,032 court opinions.
Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan L. Hecht called Pope a “judicial icon.”
Pope is survived by two sons and three grandchildren.