David Dudley Dowd Jr. (January 31, 1929 – August 4, 2016) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, sitting in Akron.
Early Life and Education
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Dowd earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of Wooster in 1951 and his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1954.
Career Before the Federal Bench
After law school, Dowd served as a legal officer in the Judge Advocate General Corps of the U.S. Army. He then entered private practice in Massillon, Ohio, and served as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney and later as County Prosecuting Attorney in Stark County. He also served as a judge on the Fifth District Court of Appeals of Ohio and on the Ohio Supreme Court.
Federal Judicial Service
Dowd was appointed to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio by President Ronald Reagan in 1982. He served on the federal bench for more than thirty years. He continued to hear and decide cases as a Senior Judge from 1996 until his retirement in 2014.
Notable Appointments and Service
- In 1988, the Judicial Conference of the United States appointed Dowd to a four-year term on the Board of the Federal Judicial Center.
- In 1990, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist appointed him to the Ad Hoc Committee on Asbestos Litigation.
- In 1996, Chief Justice Rehnquist appointed Dowd as one of five judges on the newly created Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC), established by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. His term on this court was subsequently extended.
- He served as a member of the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and as a liaison to the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Evidence.
Personal Life and Death
Dowd died on August 4, 2016, at the age of 87. Following his death, Chief Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. stated that Dowd "set a high standard for judges and lawyers" and was "always well prepared, principled and fair, having the courage of his convictions."
