Retired judge remembered for heart
Skwierawski was mentor, leader, family man
Michael Skwierawski wasn’t your typical retiree. ● Many octogenarians would find the best parts of their golden years parked in front of a TV set or making a beeline for some sun-licked beach town to count sunsets. ● Skwierawski was the polar opposite. ● Just two weeks ago, the retired Milwaukee County judge was with a few of his grandchildren harvesting maple syrup on land near Baraboo where he built a cabin years earlier with his own hands.
It’s hard work. But he didn’t mind, nor would he have it any other way.
Skwierawski, the jurist who presided over Milwaukee’s infamous Laurie “Bambi” Bembenek trial in the 1980s, died in his sleep at Milwaukee home on Friday. He was 81.
“He was active. Always active and doing something,” said Andrew Skwierawski, his only son.
Michael Skwierawski served 25 years on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court bench, beginning in 1978 until his retirement in 2003. He served five years as the circuit’s chief judge.
Information on funeral services wasn’t immediately available.
To hear his family and those closest to him tell the story, Skwierawski may have hung up his black robe years ago, but he wasn’t ready to let the grass grow under his feet.
The father of four remained a fixture at the Milwaukee Justice Center, which serves about 10,000 clients each year in brief legal advice clinics. He helped found the center, a partnership among the MBA Foundation, Marquette Law School and Milwaukee County.
“He always had that streak of wanting to help those who need it,” Andrew Skwierawski said.
Skwierawski made himself available
Mary E. Triggiano became a circuit judge in 2004, a year after Skwierawski left the court, but their paths often crossed; she worked at Legal Action of Wisconsin, and they both lived in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood.
On his last day on the bench, Skwierawski asked her to join him in taking a different route to downtown Milwaukee by kayak.
They paddled from Bay View to the old Milwaukee Ale House near Buffalo Street.
“I really enjoyed it.” she recalled. “Spending that time with him was valuable.”
Triggano remember getting another call years later from Skwierawski — this one coming a few days after she was named chief judge in 2020. He offered support and opened the door for her to reach out whenever she needed advice on how to navigate a job that could at times be challenging and feel lonely.
The challenges would, indeed, be stark for Triggiano as the global COVID-19 pandemic would erupt just a
few weeks later, leading to the shutdown of the courthouse.
“He was a dear friend,” said Triggiano, who retired in June and now runs the Andrew Center for Restorative Justice at Marquette University Law School. “He didn’t just call balls and strikes from the bench. He really cared about making the community he served better for everyone.”
Skwierawski was chief judge when Carl Ashley was elected to the circuit court in 1999. Ashley succeeded Triggiano as chief in April 2023.
He remembered Skwierawski as an “outstanding leader, jurist and family man” who “created the fundamentals of being a judge.”
“He was someone everybody respected,” Ashley said. “He gave me a legacy of tutorship and mentorship, and will be sorely missed.”
For Skwierawski, ‘Bambi’ case was any other trial
Skwierawski presided over the trial of Laurie “Bambi” Bembenek, who was charged in the 1981 murder of Christine Schultz, the ex-wife of her husband, Fred Schultz.
Schultz was a Milwaukee police officer; Bembenek, who had been in the Milwaukee Police Academy, worked as a security guard at Marquette University at the time. Bembenek was convicted of first-degree murder in the case. She filed several unsuccessful appeals, proclaiming her innocence.
Back then, there was no internet, no 24-hour TV news cycle.
But the story gained national attention — which exploded in 1990 when she escaped from prison and fled to Canada. Bembenek returned the following year and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, with her sentence commuted to time served.
“The case certainly got a lot of publicity ... but it didn’t define him,” said Andrew Skwierawski, who also is a lawyer. “It was fascinating for everyone else, but ... he treated it like any other case.”
The experience made an huge impression on his sister, Audrey Skwierawski.
She was a teenager as the case was underway; she remembers taking days off school to go to the courthouse to watch her father preside over the case.
Audrey Skwierawski would grow up to follow in the judicial footsteps. She was appointed to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court in 2018 by then-Gov. Scott Walker and elected in 2019.
And last year, Audrey Skwierawski was tapped to become the first woman director of state courts.
Although Audrey and Michael Skwierawski’s time as judges in Milwaukee didn’t overlap, Audrey Skwierawski recalled having a unique on-thejob experience.
She was two years on the job as an assistant district attorney in Milwaukee County when a bailiff advised her a man was in the back of the courtroom where she was fighting a case. The man was seen quietly taking notes on what she said and on her mannerisms.
The man turned out to be her father; he had a break in his workday and wanted to check out his daughter’s courtroom performance. He’d jot down notes and share his critiques and her high points.
“It was so cool to have my dad in the back of the courtroom watching me do my job,” she said. “Not many people can say they’ve had their dad, a judge, ever do that.”
‘Judge Mike’ had a place in his heart for culture
Skwierawski was heavily involved with the Polish Heritage Alliance, Inc. the parent organization of the Polish Center of Wisconsin and Polish Fest.
That makes sense in Milwaukee; roughly 5.5% of Milwaukee’s 577,000 residents identified themselves has being of Polish heritage during the American Community Survey in 2022.
“Judge Mike, as he was known to us, was a driving force in our Polish community,” the alliance said Monday in a statement, which also credited him with being a founding members of Polish Fest. “He was one of the leaders of our community that ensured the Polish Center was built. His pride in his heritage was and is his legacy that will be carried on for generations to come.
“We will miss you Judge Mike!”