Former Franklin County Judge Connor dies at 78

John A. Connor, a thirdgeneration lawyer and longtime judge known for his compassion, wit and sharp legal instinct, died Wednesday at age 78.

Connor was elected in 1992 to Franklin County Common Pleas Court, where he served for more than 16 years. He joined the Franklin County Court of Appeals in 2009 after winning election, and he retired five years ago.

“He was a wonderful guy to work with,” said Doug Eaton, the appeals court’s administrator.

Trial court requires “snap decisions and that you be right 90 percent of the time,” said Eaton, “a skill set that he transferred to the appellate bench.”

“He had a feel for what was right or wrong, an inherent sense of justice and equity.”

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien considered Connor a family friend with whom he shared an ancestry, leadership roles in the Shamrock Club of Columbus, and a passion for the law.

O’Brien called Connor “an insightful, intelligent and deliberative judge who always did what he thought was the right and just thing.”

Eaton said Connor could read a brief “and he just knew where a case was going to go. He had a sense for the law that was just innate. He Connor was just dead-on.”

Connor’s grandfather was admitted to the bar in 1904, and his father was in 1939.

Connor’s compassion stemmed from personal struggles. He battled alcoholism and was arrested three times for drunken driving. He would have celebrated 16 years of sobriety on Dec. 16, said one of his two daughters, Erin Winemiller.

In 2006, Connor came under fire for sentencing a sex offender to probation instead of prison, prompting Bill O’Reilly, a Fox News commentator at the time, to call him “the worst judge in America.”

Connor said he sentenced the offender to probation and treatment based on recommendations from mental-health experts and his belief that rehabilitation works.“The governor called for my resignation; the attorney general was trying to impeach me,” Connor said at the time. “I got through it, and the guy went through five years (of supervision) and never committed another offense.”

Connor personally invited O’Reilly to his retirement party. O’Reilly didn’t show.

Tiffany Barton, one of Connor’s secretaries, said of her former boss: “I think he knew his own shortfalls, and that made him try to better himself.”

Connor suffered strokes recently but was regaining strength until about a month ago, when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

“I know he was ready,” said Winemiller. “He’s taught me, along with our Catholic faith, that when we go, we’re going for eternal life. And he was ready.”

In September, Connor visited Ireland with his daughters.

“It was amazing,” Winemiller said. “We had no idea he was sick. He had no idea.

“We were just kidding (when we said), ‘Why are we doing this now? This isn’t our Christmas money, is it? Are you dying?’”

“And he wasn’t. He had no idea,” she said.

“I truly believe that God had a hand in all this.”

Funeral arrangements are pending.