Longest serving Portage County judge Kainrad dies at 82 - Aurora Advocate
Judge Joseph Kainrad, who was the longest serving judge in Portage County history when he retired a decade ago, died Aug. Kainrad was a municipal court judge when he succeeded Judge Albert Lincoln Caris on the Portage County Common Pleas bench in 1975. He retired after five six-year terms at the end of 2004 after serving 32 years as a judge, including three on the... He stepped down because he could not seek re-election because he was over the mandated age of 70. A Democrat, Kainrad was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1962 and served three terms before returning to law practice in 1969. As a... Attorney Titus Jackman of Kent, who was the city's law director during the 1960s, recalled that he, Mayor John Carson and a few others from Kent went to Columbus to see about getting a municipal court in Kent. JUDGE Laurie Pittman, who succeeded Kainrad when he retired in 2004, said Kainrad was a lifelong family friend. He was "a very progressive individual," she said, adding he was very supportive of her when she decided to run for judge. Pittman and others said Kainrad was very much a mentor to attorneys as well as judges. Source: www.auroraadvocate.com
