| John W. Fitzgerald | |
| Order: | 58th |
| Office: | List of justices of the Michigan Supreme Court#Former Michigan Supreme Court Chief JusticesChief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court |
| Term Start: | 1982 |
| Term End: | 1982 |
| Successor: | G. Mennen Williams |
| Term Start2: | 1973 |
| Term End2: | 1982 |
| State Senate3: | Michigan |
| Term Start3: | January 1, 1959 |
| Term End3: | December 31, 1964 |
| Predecessor3: | Donald E. Smith |
| Successor3: | Sander Levin |
| Birth Date: | 14 November 1924 |
| Relations: | John Wesley Fitzgerald (grandfather) John W. Fitzgerald (grandson) |
| Mawards: | is not set --> |
| Awards: | is not set --> |
John Warner Fitzgerald (November 14, 1924 - July 7, 2006) was an American lawyer, member of the Michigan Senate, and justice (and later chief justice) of the Michigan Supreme Court.[1] [2]
Fitzgerald was born in Grand Ledge, Michigan, on November 14, 1924.[1] [2] [3] He was born to a political family; he was the grandson of John Wesley Fitzgerald, a Michigan state representative from Eaton County (1895–96) and the son of Frank Dwight Fitzgerald, governor of Michigan from 1935 to 1936 and 1939, and Queena Warner Fitzgerald.[1] [2]
Fitzgerald graduated from Grand Ledge High School in 1942.[2] Fitzgerald served in the U.S. Army infantry during World War II.[1] [2] He received his undergraduate degree from Michigan State University in 1947 and his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1954.[1] [2] [3] He also studied at Princeton University and the University of Arizona.[2]
Fitzgerald was the legal counsel for the Michigan State Senate from 1955 until 1958.[2] In 1958, Fitzgerald was elected to the Michigan State Senate, where he served until 1962.[1] [2] [3]
Fitzgerald practiced in the law firm of Fitzgerald & Wirbel until he was elected to the Michigan Court of Appeals in 1964.[1] [2] [3] Governor William Milliken appointed Fitzgerald to a one-year term on the Michigan Supreme Court in 1973.[1] [2] Fitzgerald took his seat on January 1, 1974.[2] Fitzgerald was subsequently elected to a full eight-year term, and in his final year on the bench, in 1982, he was elected chief justice.[1]
Fitzgerald was a member of the original board of directors of Thomas M. Cooley Law School, and also taught as an adjunct, teaching the first property-law class there in 1983.[1] [2] He later resigned from the board to become a full-time professor of law there.[1] [2]
Fitzgerald died on July 7, 2006, at Mackinac Straits Hospital in St. Ignace, after a long illness, at age 81.[1] The Fitzgerald family has had a cottage on the Mackinac Island's East Bluff since 1961.[1]
Fitzgerald was a member of the First Congregational, United Church of Christ of Grand Ledge and the Little Stone Church, Union Congregational on Mackinac Island.[1] He was also a member of the Mackinac Island Yacht Club and a charter member of Mackinac Associates.[1]
Fitzgerald's papers are archived at the Bentley Historical Library of the University of Michigan.[3]