Chief Justice Mark Cady. Photo courtesy of Iowa Judicial Branch website
The untimely death of Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady at the age of 66 came as a shock to several Iowans.
One of those individuals was former Greene County Magistrate Judge David Morain, who currently practices transactional law. Morain tells Raccoon Valley Radio, Cady was a giant in the legal community and will be sorely missed.
“This was a man who undertook his office very seriously and went to work everyday with a purpose. If you go to the website for the Iowa Judicial Branch, it’ll say effectively, ‘administering justice equally for all.’ And I can’t think of a man who’s done that, or a woman, who’s done that more than Mark Cady.”
Morain served as magistrate judge from July 2016-September 2019, and he says every year Cady spoke at the annual magistrate conference in Ames.
“He always started off every one of those by thanking us, saying that we’re on the front line and they couldn’t do what they do without us doing what we do. I was just always appreciative that he appreciated the work that we did.”
The Iowa Judicial Branch reported on their website last Friday that Cady died of a heart attack. Governor Kim Reynolds has ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff at all public buildings and encourages private businesses and schools to do the same through Wednesday in memory of Justice Cady.