Retired Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Court Judge James M. Bierce Dies

A memorial service for retired Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Court Judge James Malcolm Bierce, who died Feb. 26 at age 79, will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 12, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 4511 Galloway Road, Sandusky, following an hour of visitation with the family.

Bierce served on the bench for 18 years before retiring in 1995, making him the second-longest serving judge in the municipal court’s history, according to Stow Municipal Judge Kim R. Hoover.

 “As a judge, he was one of the first that was really big on technology,” said Hoover, who succeeded Bierce in Cuyahoga Falls. “He began his time on the bench when a personal computer was not something that was on anyone’s mind.”

Bierce pushed for the use of modern technology to make record keeping more efficient and to lower court expenses.

He also believed in jurists sharing what they had learned to help the American legal system operate more smoothly.  To demonstrate that point, he served on the Ohio Judicial College faculty and lectured at a judicial school in Reno, NV.

The Columbus native attended Culver Military Academy and Western Reserve Academy.

He served in the Navy in the early 1950s before enrolling at the University of Akron, where he obtained a bachelor of laws degree. He was admitted to practice law in both Ohio and Michigan.

Bierce began his legal career as an assistant law director in Cuyahoga Falls. He went into private practice and was a senior managing partner in a law firm before becoming a municipal court judge in 1977.

He served as a national officer for the Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, chairman of the Cuyahoga Valley Community Health Center and president of the Akron Crime Clinic and Cuyahoga Falls Fraternal Order of Police.

Bierce served as a trustee of the American Diabetes Association and Municipal/County Court Judges Association of Ohio. He belonged to the University of Akron School of Law advisory committee, International Order of the Blue Gavel and Cuyahoga Falls Lions Club.

The judge, who retired to the Port Clinton area, was a past commodore of the Cedar Point Yacht Club. He loved boating and genealogy.

Survivors include his wife of 43 years, Ferne; children, James and Terry Bowen; two grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and sister, Julie McCullough.

Donations, designated for either “humanitarian aid” or “fast offerings,” may be made to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, c/o Bishop William J. Reel, 1010 Tyler St., Sandusky, OH 44870-3147.

 Arrangements are by Gerner-Wolf-Walker Funeral Home & Crematory, Port Clinton.