CHICAGO - One of the nation's longest-serving federal judges has died just three days after relinquishing the last case on his docket.
A statement Tuesday from U.S. District Court in Chicago where he served for nearly 40 years said 93-year-old Milton Shadur died Monday.
Shadur announced only last summer he was retiring. His daughter, Beth Shadur says he spent months wrapping up lingering cases. She says he reluctantly gave up his last case Friday.
He wrote more than 11,000 opinions, often with humor. When someone suggested he'd given a litigant a judicial blank check, Shadur denied it, writing he "issues blank checks to no one other than Mrs. Shadur."
The Navy veteran is survived by his wife of 71 years, his daughter, and a son.