Retired U.S. Magistrate Judge J. David Orlansky

Retired U.S. Magistrate Judge J. David Orlansky passed away at home on August 2, 2025, at the age of 94. Born in Greenville, Mississippi on October 5, 1930, he was raised in Drew, where his immigrant parents operated a dry goods store. David was the only one of three children to survive to adulthood, and graduated from Drew High School in 1948, having played basketball (not particularly well, he noted) and been Captain of the Eagles Marching Band. David then attended LSU, becoming the first member of his family to go to college. He was a member of the Golden Band From Tigerland, a fact he consciously concealed from his fellow Ole Miss boosters in later years. He also served as the President of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity before graduating in 1952. By far the most important event during his years at LSU was his meeting a brilliant and beautiful coed from Alexandria, LA named Shirley Ruth Ettinger.

Instead of using his bachelors degree in Commerce to join the family business back in Drew, David enrolled in the Ole Miss Law School. His recollections of that experience focused on striving to earn the favor (or, at least, tolerance) of the intimidating Professor John Fox; breakfasts at Smitty's; and the Rebels' landmark football victory over Maryland in November of 1952. He served on the editorial board of the Mississippi Law Journal and as Chairman of the Moot Court Board, and was awarded his Bachelor of Laws (later converted to Juris Doctor) degree in August of 1954. During his second year in law school, David made the fateful decision to drive a number of

classmates to the American Law Students Association (now the Student Division of the American Bar Association) meeting in Houston. He agreed to do so because he knew that Shirley (with whom he'd had no contact since she left LSU three years prior) was working there. He tracked down her address and wrote to her, asking that she be his date for the weekend and that she find dates for eight of his classmates. She accepted both the date and the challenge. The rest is history, and in what he often referred to as "the best decision of my life," David married Shirley on May 27, 1954.

After briefly practicing law in Drew, David entered the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, where he won commendation for his work in the development of the Army Command Management System, which was then being tested at Fort Jackson. After his discharge in 1956, David and Shirley settled in Greenville. He practiced law there until 1975, when he was appointed the first full-time United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Mississippi.

For the next 20 years, he held court in Greenville, Clarksdale, Oxford and Aberdeen, earning a reputation for the thoroughness of his pretrial conferences. Lawyers declining to stipulate to material facts were expected to be able to justify their positions. He also prided himself in the success rate of his settlement conferences, in which his goal was "a mutually unsatisfactory settlement," which he considered generally preferable to the cost and uncertainty of trial. In Greenville, David served as President of the Washington County Bar Association, the Kiwanis Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the United Fund and twice as President of Hebrew Union Congregation. He was a longtime Rotarian in Greenville and the North Jackson club, which he joined after he and Shirley moved to Madison in 2008. They were members of Beth Israel Congregation, where David served on the Jackson Jewish Film Festival film selection committee and delivered Meals on Wheels.

In retirement, David and Shirley discovered the joys of travel, especially cruising. Most memorable to the family is the Alaska cruise to which David and Shirley treated their children and grandchildren in celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary in 2004. David was a devoted father, grandfather and great-grandfather, taking great interest and pride. In milestones and achievements large and small. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren knew him as "Da." Lawyers who appeared before the rather humorless Judge Orlansky would have been surprised by the "Da face," in which he contorted his lips and tongue for the children's amusement.

David was predeceased by his parents, Abe and Dora Sklar Orlansky, and by Shirley, who died in 2018. He is survived by his children, Steve and Beth Orlansky of Jackson, Larry and Naomi Orlansky of New Orleans, and Linda and Dr. Mark Posner of Baton Rouge; grandchildren Abram Orlansky (Jackson, MS), Jonny Orlansky and Dr. Jessica Reeves (Philadelphia, PA), Benji and Emily Orlansky (Austin, TX), Shana Orlansky and Ben Halverson (Chicago, IL), Adam and Blair Orlansky (Denver, CO), Joshua and Megan Posner (Denver, CO), Aaron Posner (Seattle, WA) and Rachel Posner (San Francisco, CA); and seven great-grandchildren. The family is grateful to Chris Funkhouser, NP for his compassionate care of David, and to Essie Ross for her lengthy and diligent assistance to David and Shirley.

A funeral service will be held at Beth Israel Congregation, 5315 Old Canton Road in Jackson, on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, at 10:30 a.m., with visitation at the synagogue starting at 9:00 a.m. Burial at Beth Israel Cemetery will follow the service.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that friends consider memorials to Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, MS, the Institute of Southern Jewish Life in Jackson, Jewish Children's Regional Service in New Orleans or the Community Stewpot in Jackson