James E. Sheridan

1944 - 2015

(News story) ADRIAN - James E. Sheridan, a Lenawee County district court judge for 36 years who received international attention when he sought to require counseling for couples hoping to be married by a public official, died Thursday in Hospice of Lenawee Home. He was 71.

He learned in August that he had a glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain tumor, his daughter, Anita, said. He retired from the district court bench in December, 2014. A longtime teacher of criminal justice courses at Siena Heights University and Jackson Community College, he bowed out of the three classes he had on his docket for this fall.

Judge Sheridan presided over the first court appearances of felony defendants, handled misdemeanors through sentencing, including domestic violence, disorderly conduct and some assault cases, and civil cases.

In the 1990s, he successfully campaigned to have county judges, magistrates, and mayors require premarital counseling before performing nuptials. In a five-year period that decade, 69 of every 100 Lenawee County marriages ended in divorce.

Judge Sheridan argued that taxpayers carried the cost of police and court services resulting from domestic disputes. Without premarital counseling, he told The Blade in 1997, couples were "risking increasing taxpayer expense through future problems caused by divorce.''

National media requested interviews, and he received coverage in Europe and South America. He also appeared on Oprah Winfrey's popular television program.

"He felt people he saw in court were the product of poor family relationships, not having good role models in their lives," his daughter said. He also wrote a weekly newspaper column on marriage.

Through his sentences, he aimed to help defendants with alcohol and drug problems; several of these defendants showed their appreciation by giving him sobriety coins they received from a 12-step program. Those in front of him might hear, " 'Why don't you care about yourself as much as I do?' and he meant it," said JoAnn Spade, his secretary.

His wife, Sharron, said: "He was very innovative and very insightful in looking into the person and saying 'Why is it you don't like yourself?' basically.

"He was concerned about them as a person and their relationships with their families and friends and co-workers," his wife said. "He didn't want to see them going down a road that would be self-destructive."

Judge Sheridan delved into biblical scholarship - "He was a footnote reader," his wife said - for the adult classes he taught at Hope Lutheran Church in Adrian, where he was a member for 39 years and a former chairman of the congregation.

For his criminal justice students, he constructed elaborate, often entertaining, scenarios for them to analyze.

"What you saw in public, when he was presenting all the time, he had an opposite side balance to him," his wife said. "He liked walking the beaches, listening to the water, enjoying God's creation. You have to retreat to that."

He was born May 18, 1944, in Midland, Mich., to Estelle and James Vincent Sheridan. He grew up in Dearborn, Mich. He received a bachelor's degree, a master of business administration degree, and a law degree from the University of Michigan. He came to Adrian in 1970 to join a law practice.

Surviving are his wife, Sharron Sheridan, whom he married Jan. 3, 1966; son, James P. Sheridan; daughter, Anita Sheridan; brother, Dennis; sister, Marge Dubuque, and a grandson.

Visitation will be from 2-7 p.m. today in the Wagley Funeral Home, Adrian. Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Hope Lutheran Church, Adrian.

The family suggests tributes to Hope Lutheran Church; Marriage Matters of Jackson, Mich.; Care Pregnancy Center of Lenawee in Adrian; the Catherine Cobb Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault program in Adrian, or Hospice of Lenawee.

This is a news story written by Blade staff writer Mark Zaborney. Contact him at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.