Huron municipal judge highly respected
4/15/2006HURON, Ohio Ralph C. Pisano, Jr., 55, a Huron Municipal Court judge, died of a heart attack Thursday at Firelands Regional Medical Center, Sandusky.
Judge Pisano, a former prosecutor for Vermilion Municipal Court, had been a Huron municipal judge since 1998 after winning the spot vacated by his father, Ralph C. Pisano, Sr., whose term expired in 1997.
The younger Judge Pisano won re-election in 2003. He had been a partner in the Pisano and Pisano law firm founded by his father about 1960 in Huron.
He is going to be sorely missed, said Judge Robert DeLamatre of Erie County Common Pleas Court. Working with him was a great experience. He was a very good attorney, a very good judge, and a very good people person.
Dave Brown, Judge Pisano s best friend of 42 years, said the judge was very highly respected by people on both sides of the bench.
Judge Pisano had a bachelor s degree in education from Bowling Green State University and a law degree from Cleveland State University Law School. A Sandusky native, he graduated from Huron High School in 1968 and then served in the Army Reserve. He was a heavy equipment operator for Huron s former Lake Erie Dock Co. before college.
Judge Pisano was a member of St. Peter s Catholic Church, Huron. Other memberships included the Huron High School Alumni Association, of which he was a trustee; Erie County Bar Association; Ohio State Bar Association; Huron Boosters Club; Huron Eagles Club, and Sandusky IAB Club.
Surviving are his wife of 26 years, Gretchen; sons, Ralph III and Christopher; father, Ralph, Sr.; sisters, Kathy Bartlome and Marjorie Ann Gibbons, and brother, Larry.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday in St. Peter s Catholic Church, Huron, where visitation will be after 2 p.m. Monday. Arrangements are by the Foster Funeral Home, Huron.
The family suggests tributes to the Huron Fire Department or Huron Rescue Squad.