(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — U.S. District Judge James Zagel, who served nearly 30 years on the federal bench and oversaw the trials of former governor Rod Blagojevich, has died at the age of 82.
Zagel died after a long illness, the U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois said in a statement. Chief Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer described Zagel as a “man of elegance and charm” and a “treasured friend.”
“Judge James Zagel was not only a much-admired federal judge; he played one in the movies,” Pallmeyer said. “Anyone who knew him could see why: he looked the part, and he truly inhabited the role, reflecting the best of the third branch in his wisdom, common sense, and dry wit. Jim Zagel was a Renaissance man — a lover of the arts, music, and literature; a published author himself.”
Zagel semi-retired in 2016. He presided over the trial and retrial of former Governor Rod Blagojevich.
“When it is the governor who goes bad, the fabric of Illinois is torn and disfigured and not easily or quickly repaired,” he said in Blagojevich’s first sentencing.
He served as the head of the Illinois Department of Revenue and then the Illinois State Police. Zagel left that post in 1987, when he was appointed as a federal judge. The Chicago native had a bachelors and masters degree from the University of Chicago and earned his law degree at Harvard.
The district court wrote that Zagel is survived by his wife Margaret, as well as “many beloved cousins and dear friends.”
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