[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 55 (Thursday, April 14, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S2502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  REMEMBERING JAMES MARTIN FITZGERALD

 Ms. MURKOWSKI. My home State of Alaska is a young State. 
Barely over 50 years old. I often marvel at the fact that so many of 
those who led Alaska during territorial days and were instrumental in 
the statehood movement also played important roles in poststatehood 
modern Alaska. Very few of our 50 states can boast that its founders 
are still around to guide the current generation of leaders. Alaska has 
been deeply fortunate in this respect. And we've never taken the wisdom 
of these individuals for granted.
  I speak today to honor the life of one of these individuals who 
passed away last week--Senior U.S. District Judge James Martin 
Fitzgerald, a member of Alaska's Territorial Bar, one of the first 
eight individuals selected to serve on the Alaska Superior Court, an 
associate justice of the Alaska Supreme Court and a Federal judge since 
1974.
  Judge Fitzgerald was born in Portland, OR, in 1920. He enrolled in 
the University of Oregon and played football for the Ducks. But shortly 
thereafter he left college, when he was called to active duty in the 
National Guard. Following discharge from the National Guard he resumed 
undergraduate study at Willamette University, once again playing on the 
football team.
  But World War II interceded. On December 6, 1941, the Willamette team 
played an away game at the University of Hawaii. The next morning, the 
team was waiting outside the Moana Loa Hotel for a bus to take them on 
a sightseeing tour as bombs fell on Pearl Harbor.
  The entire Willamette football team was conscripted to help defend 
the Island of Oahu. After brief training they were armed with World War 
I era rifles and put on guard duty at a Honolulu High School. The team 
went on sentry rotations to keep watch over nearby water towers and 
storage tanks that were potential Japanese targets. They strung barbed 
wire along the Waikiki beach.
  The football team remained in Honolulu for several weeks until their 
coach convinced the captain of the SS President Coolidge to take the 
team home in exchange for aiding the hundreds of critically wounded 
servicemen that were on board.
  On Christmas Day 1941, the team arrived in San Francisco. Judge 
Fitzgerald promptly enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. He spent 5 years 
fighting for our country as a radio gunner for a torpedo squadron in 
the South Pacific.
  Honorably discharged once again in 1946, Fitzgerald returned to 
Portland. He married his wife Karin in 1950. Fitzgerald worked as a 
firefighter and reenrolled at Willamette where he completed work toward 
his B.A. and subsequently earned a law degree in 1951. The newly 
married couple spent their first summer in Ketchikan, Alaska where he 
worked in a lumber mill and a salmon cannery.
  Upon graduation from law school, Judge Fitzgerald returned to 
Ketchikan. He served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Ketchikan for 4 
years then relocated to Anchorage where he served as the city attorney.
  Judge Fitzgerald was subsequently named counsel to Alaska's first 
Governor, William Egan, and was appointed the first commissioner of the 
Alaska Department of Public Safety
  In November 1959, Judge Fitzgerald was selected to be one of the 
first eight judges of the newly created Alaska Superior Court, which is 
our trial court. Prior to Alaska's admission to the statehood, the 
Federal Government maintained the judicial system for the territory. A 
new court system for our new State had to be created from scratch. The 
eight new judges were promptly dispatched to New Jersey to learn how a 
State trial court operates. Among his colleagues on that trip was Judge 
James von der Heydt, who like Fitzgerald, would also one day serve on 
the U.S. District Court.
  Judge Fitzgerald was elevated to the Alaska Supreme Court in 1972 and 
served there until 1974 when he was confirmed to serve on the federal 
bench.
  Judge Fitzgerald was sworn in as a U.S. district judge on December 
20, 1974. He served as chief judge of the District of Alaska from 1984 
until 1989 and became a senior district judge in 1989.
  Judge James Fitzgerald passed away surrounded by his family on April 
3, 2011. He is survived by his wife Karin Fitzgerald and their four 
children. On behalf of my Senate colleagues, I extend condolences to 
Karin, Judge Fitzgerald's family and his many friends in the Alaska Bar 
and the community as a whole.
  James Fitzgerald's life was one of sacrifice and public service. He 
set aside his college education and an opportunity to play varsity 
football in order to serve his country in time of war. He was a 
dedicated attorney and jurist who brought peace to the territory of 
Alaska and then went on to help create Alaska's highly respected State 
court system before joining the Federal bench. He served my beloved 
State of Alaska for well over 50 years; and it is my hope that his life 
will continue to serve as an inspiration to us all.

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