Hon. George Gallagher

Hon. George R. Gallagher, 91, longtime judge on the D.C. Court of Appeals, died February 4 of pneumonia at his home, Ardara Farm, in Comus.

He is survived by his wife, Judith Kuertz Gallagher.

Judge Gallagher was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on April 10, 1915, and moved with his mother and four siblings to Washington as a boy in the 1920s, living in Tenleytown. He graduated from George Washington University and received his law degree from Catholic University.

Judge Gallagher was a member of the Congressional Country Club and The Lawyers Club of Washington. In addition to his enjoyment of golf, his ardent interest was carrying on the work of his farm in Comus.

Judge Gallagher was appointed to the D.C. Court of Appeals in 1968 by President Lyndon Johnson. He served as an active Associate Judge until 1981, when he assumed Senior Judge status, frequently participating in the court's cases until his full retirement in 2001. In Sept. 1978, the D.C. Judicial Tenure Commission submitted to President Jimmy Carter, as required by law, an evaluation of Judge Gallagher's first 10 years on the bench. The Commission's report noted, "He is an energetic Judge and his opinions reflect a lively intellect. He is particularly sensitive in situations where the individual is a litigant pitted against the power of Federal or local government." Further, the Commission reported, "Judge Gallagher's opinions have been of a consistently high quality; some of them, indeed, most notable contributions to the growth of our law."

Prior to his appointment to the court, Judge Gallagher had served as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice, initially from 1938 to 1941 and again from 1946 to 1948. In 1948, he became a Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General, in which capacity he participated in the prosecution of Harry Bridges, the California longshoreman union leader, for perjury, and of Edward Prichard, a Kentucky congressman, for political corruption. From 1952 to 1959, Judge Gallagher served as General Counsel of the Subversive Activities Control Board. He was then in private practice in Washington until 1968. During that period, he served in the campaigns of President John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson as an advance man for their campaign tours.

During World War II, Judge Gallagher joined the U.S. Army in 1941, initially serving in the Aleutian Islands under arduous conditions. Later, he rose to the rank of Captain in the 9th Infantry Division, where he served in Intelligence under then Colonel William Westmoreland. He was at the crucial Remagen Bridgehead Battle on the Rhine River and was awarded the Bronze Star. In 1945, he left the Army and returned to the Department of Justice.

Surviving, besides his wife, are his children, Christopher R. Gallagher and Mary Elizabeth Gallagher, all of Comus; and several nieces and nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, at St. Mary's Catholic Church, 18230 Barnesville Rd., Barnesville.

Interment will follow in Monocacy Cemetery, Beallsville.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to St. Mary's Catholic Church, P.O. Box 67, Barnesville, MD 20838.

Arrangements are by Hilton Funeral Home, Barnesville (hiltonfh.com).