Oldest Federal Judge Dies

Senior U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown, who regularly presided over cases well past his 104th birthday, died on January 23, 2012.

Brown turned 104 last June 22, tying an age record for the federal bench – set in 1977 by Judge Joseph Woodrough of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Brown was appointed to the U.S. District Court in Wichita, Kansas, by President John F. Kennedy in 1962. He assumed senior status in 1979, but continued his judicial duties for the next 32 years.

U.S. District Judge Monti Belot, who served as a Brown law clerk years before joining him on the bench, said Brown's weaker health had kept him from working within the past month.