Douglass B. WRIGHT

WRIGHT, Douglass B. Judge Douglass Brownell Wright, of Bloomfield and Fenwick, Old Saybrook, husband of the late Ann Hallowell Ferguson Wright and the late Jane Hamersley Wright, died December 18, 2010 at age 98. Born in Hartford, the son of Dr. Arthur Brownell Wright and Sylvia Stephens Wright, he was a Judge of the Connecticut Superior Court and Circuit Court since 1960, and Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Connecticut Law School for 46 years. He served on the Connecticut Supreme Court for many months and wrote several opinions. He also served as a Judge-Referee until age 85. In his early years, he was Deputy Town Judge of West Hartford and Chairman of the West Hartford Town Plan and Zoning Commission. Before he went on the bench, he was an Assistant State's Attorney, and partner in the Hartford Law Firm of Davis, Lee, Howard, and Wright. He was state prosecutor in the murder trial of Benjamin Reid when the jury in that case imposed the death penalty (approved, after appeals, by the United States Supreme Court). On the day of Reid's scheduled execution, Wright went before the Connecticut Board of Pardons and pleaded for Reid's life, on the basis of his youth, and the Board reduced the sentence to life imprisonment --- only hours before the scheduled execution. Two murder trials, over which Judge Wright presided, were made into national books (A Great Fall, Simon and Schuster; and The Wheels, Macmillan). After Judge Wright's retirement, he assisted Gerald Demeusy, the author of Ten Weeks of Terror, in describing the Mad Dog Killers who terrified the Connecticut countryside in 1955. Judge Wright was the author of Connecticut Jury Instructions, (Civil), Connecticut Legal Forms, Connecticut Law of Torts, Connecticut Police and Prosecutors Manual and several legal articles. He was a graduate of Loomis School; Yale University, A.B 1933 (Phi Beta Kappa, Psi Upsilon, Tennis team and Squash team); and the University of Connecticut Law School (magna cum laude). During World War II he served as a Navy Lieutenant, Senior Grade, seeing service in the European theater. He was President of the American School for the Deaf, and on the boards of the University of Hartford, the Loomis School, Newington Children's Hospital, Connecticut Boys Club of Hartford, Hartt College of Music, Visiting Nurse Association, and Hartford Times Farm. He was also President of the Loomis Alumni Association and the Connecticut Law School Alumni Association. With his musical group of friends known as Judge Wright and the Five Wrongs, he frequently contributed to charitable events by playing the piano. He and his brother, Arthur S. Wright, were formerly New England Senior Tennis Doubles Champions. He enjoyed racquet sports of all kinds, particularly tennis which was his love. In addition to playing piano, he was an avid bridge player, renowned for his card sense and the bid of "3 No Trump." Judge Wright was a member of the Hartford Golf Club, the Hartford Club, University Club, Hartford Tennis Club, the Twentieth Century Club, Coral Beach Club (Bermuda), and the Hillsboro Club (Florida). He is survived by his five children (Jane C. Wright of West Hartford, Douglass B. Wright, Jr. and his wife Mary of Miami, FL, Hamersley S. Wright and his wife Nina of Clinton, WA, Elizabeth W. Temple of Mount Pleasant, SC and Arthur W. Wright and his wife Joan of New Canaan, by twelve grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren. Besides his family, he leaves his many friends, his former students and colleagues, and his loving caregivers who were so much a part of his life. A memorial service and reception will be held at the Duncaster Lifecare Community, 40 Loeffler Road, Bloomfield at 11 a.m. on Saturday (January 15, 2011). In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to the American School for the Deaf, Newington Children's Hospital (now the Connecticut Children's Medical Center) or the Connecticut Boys Club of Hartford. The James T. Pratt Funeral Service of Wethersfield is handling arrangements.