Longtime OKC federal judge dies

For close to 40 years, Judge Lee R. West kept at it, presiding over cases in Oklahoma City federal court with humor and intelligence well into his 80s.

"I g o h o me a l i t t l e e a r l i e r a n d c o me i n a little later, but I'm still w o r k i n g , " h e s a i d i n 2012, the same year he was i nducted i nto t he Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

The senior U.S. district judge and champion bird dog breeder died Friday in Muskogee. He was 90.

"He was one of a kind — wi t t y , i n q u i s i t i v e , curious, generous and incredibly smart," Chief

Judge Timothy DeGiusti said. "His legal acumen was universally recogn i z e d a n d r e s p e c t e d . Gifted with an imposing intellect, he managed to never t ake himself t oo seriously."

W e s t o v e r c a m e a childhood of poverty in southeast Oklahoma to go to law school, become an at t orney and t each law at the University of Oklahoma and Harvard. H e w a s a s t a t e d i s - t r i c t j u d g e i n Ada f o r for almost 10 years and then served on the Civil Ae r o n a u t i c s B o a r d i n Washington, D.C.

He was acting chairman of the board under President Jimmy Carter. He became a U. S. district judge in Oklahoma

City after Carter nominated him i n 1 9 7 9 . H e w a s West chief judge

f r om J ul y 2, 1993, to Nov. 26, 1994. He remained on active status as a senior judge until last year.

"Everything he did, he did well," said his friend, Senior U.S. District Judge David Russell, who cowrote West's biography with attorney Bob Burke. "He was an amazing guy."

"They di d a n e x c e l - l ent j ob of editi ng out most of my shortcomings and disguising them as strengths," West once s ai d of t he bi ography, "Law & Laughter: The

Life of Lee West."

Burke described West as "one of the smartest people I've ever known" and "one of the funniest."

"He had this incredible gift, especially in a public setting, of having everybody in stitches over whatever topic he was talking about," Burke said. "At the same time ... there was a side to him that showed incredible compassion."

West, for example, in the last 10 years, quietly bought a vehicle for an aging former state official who had run out of money, Burke said.

"H e w o r k e d h a r d , "Burke said. "He would ... lose sleep over doing the right thing in a big case. ... He worried about getting it right."