Retired US District Judge Paul Gadola dies at 85

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A retired U.S. district judge who served two decades on the federal bench in southeastern Michigan has died. Paul Gadola was 85.

Dodds-Dumanois Funeral Home in Flint says that Gadola died Friday at the Burcham Hills retirement community in East Lansing.

Gadola spend 25 years as a Flint trial lawyer before President Ronald Reagan named him to the U.S. District Court for Southeastern Michigan in 1988.

Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton tells The Flint Journal that Gadola was "very, very adept at getting the lawyers to hone in on the critical issues, understand the weaknesses in their cases, and get them to settle" before trial.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee of Flint says Gadola "was warm-hearted, kind and respectful to everyone he worked with."

Funeral arrangements were incomplete Sunday.