Charles Schwartz Jr., a federal judge for a quarter-century, dies ...

Charles Schwartz Jr., a retired judge who presided over cases involving topics such as racketeering, voter fraud and higher education during his quarter-century on the federal bench in New Orleans, died Saturday at Touro Infirmary.

Judge Schwartz, a lifelong New Orleanian, was appointed a judge of U.S. District Court by President Gerald Ford in 1976. He retired in 2001.

Among the cases that came before him was a racketeering case involving sewer-construction contracts in Jefferson Parish that brought down former U.S. Rep. Richard "Rick" Tonry, who pleaded guilty.

Judge Schwartz also handled cases involving the disparity in higher education in Louisiana, and the method of electing justices to the state Supreme Court. The latter case, which went on for years, resulted in a seat being created on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal from a black-majority district that called for its occupant to be appointed to the Supreme Court, said Jamie Waters, a former law clerk.

"You knew you were going to get justice when you went in there," Waters said. "People considered him stern. Everybody was on their best game. They knew he was not going to be friendly toward them. He was a judge's judge."

Throughout his tenure, Judge Schwartz was rigorously impartial, his former clerks said, and he cared deeply that everything be done just so.

"He was a tough judge to work for, but, ultimately, a very inspiring one," said Randall Smith, a former clerk. "He always wanted to get it right."

The former clerks said he was always available, even on Friday afternoons and on weekends. He was often the last judge to leave the courthouse.

"When you clerked for Judge Schwartz, you did what had to be done," Waters said. "He was very stern, but everybody liked him because he was fair."

"I think he did credit to the bench," said Janet Marshall, another former clerk.

Judge Schwartz earned an undergraduate degree at Tulane University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

During World War II, he was a second lieutenant in the Army, serving in the Philippines. He stayed in the Army Reserves until 1966, when he retired as a major.

After the war, he went to law school at Tulane, where he worked on the law review and was elected Order of the Coif, a scholastic honorary society for law students.

For 29 years, he was in private practice, first with Guste, Barnett & Redmand. In 1969, he was a founder of Little Schwarz & Dussom. During that period, he was district counsel for the Gulf Coast District of the U.S. Maritime Administration.

Before his appointment to the bench, he also was active in the Republican Party. He was a longtime chairman of the Orleans Parish Republican Executive Committee and secretary of the GOP's State Central Committee. He was a delegate to the 1960 Republican National Convention and an alternate for the next two party conclaves.

Judge Schwartz was a board member, president and treasurer of the Greater New Orleans Area Unit of the American Cancer Society, the Cancer Association of Greater New Orleans and the United Cancer Council of America.

For more than 20 years, Judge Schwartz taught part-time at Tulane's law school and was a member of the law review's advisory board. He also served on the boards of the United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area, Touro Foundation and Metairie Park Country Day School, and he was a member of the Louisiana Commandery of the Military Order of Foreign Wars.

Survivors include a son, John Schwartz of Boston; Priscilla Schwartz Baird of Metairie; and two grandchildren.

A funeral will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m.

Burial will be in Metairie Cemetery.

Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/11/charles_schwartz_a_federal_jud.html

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