David Dudley Dowd Jr. (January 31, 1929 – August 4, 2016) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

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Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city pro ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

Education and career

Born in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...

, Dowd received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree from

College of Wooster The College of Wooster is a private liberal arts college in Wooster, Ohio. Founded in 1866 by the Presbyterian Church as the University of Wooster, it has been officially non-sectarian since 1969 when ownership ties with the Presbyterian Chur ...

in 1951 and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

from the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparative Law (MC ...

in 1954. He was in private practice in

Massillon Jean-Baptiste Massillon, CO (24 June 1663, Hyères – 28 September 1742, Beauregard-l'Évêque), was a French Catholic prelate and famous preacher who served as Bishop of Clermont from 1717 until his death. Biography Early years Massillon wa ...

, Ohio from 1954 to 1955. He was in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

from 1955 to 1957 with the

Judge Advocate General's Corps The Judge Advocate General's Corps, also known as JAG or JAG Corps, is the military justice branch or specialty of the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called ju ...

, returning to private practice in Massillon from 1957 to 1975. After active service in the army, he transferred to the reserves until he retired as major in 1970. He was a Councilman-at-large for the City of Massillon in 1960, and an assistant prosecuting attorney of Stark County, Ohio from 1961 to 1967, and prosecuting attorney of Stark County, Ohio 1967 to 1975. He was defeated in the Republican Primary for

Ohio Attorney General The Ohio Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the State of Ohio in the United States. The office is filled by general election, held every four years. The Ohio Attorney General is Republican Dave Yost. History The office of the attor ...

in 1974. He was a judge on the Ohio Fifth District Court of Appeals from 1975 to 1980. He was a justice of the

Ohio Supreme Court The Ohio Supreme Court, Officially known as The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a ...

from 1980 to 1981. He was in private practice in

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

, Ohio from 1981 to 1982.

Federal judicial service

On August 24, 1982, was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Leroy John Contie Jr. Dowd was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and ...

on September 22, 1982, and received his commission the following day, taking up a duty station with chambers in Akron. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on June 30, 1996, serving in that status until his death on August 4, 2016, in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

, though he had stopped hearing cases in 2014.

Personal

Dowd had a spouse named Joyce, and they had a daughter and three sons.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dowd, David Dudley Jr. 1929 births 2016 deaths College of Wooster alumni University of Michigan Law School alumni Ohio city council members County district attorneys in Ohio Judges of the Ohio District Courts of Appeals Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan 20th-century American judges People from Massillon, Ohio United States Army officers Ohio Republicans Lawyers from Cleveland United States Army reservists United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps