Daryl L. Hecht (June 25, 1952 – April 3, 2019) was a justice on the

Iowa Supreme Court The Iowa Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Iowa. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The Court holds its regular sessions in Des Moines in the Iowa Judicial Branch Building located at 1111 E ...

and president of Iowa Trial Lawyers Association.Iowa Judicial Branch page for Daryl L. Hecht
, accessed September 18, 2017.

Early life and education

Raised on a

family farm A family farm is generally understood to be a farm owned and/or operated by a family; it is sometimes considered to be an Estate (land), estate passed down by inheritance. Although a recurring conceptual model, conceptual and archetype, archet ...

near Lytton, Iowa, Hecht received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in history and political science from

Morningside College Morningside University is a private university affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Sioux City, Iowa. Founded in 1894 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, Morningside University has 21 buildings on a campus in Sioux City (ar ...

in 1974 and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

University of South Dakota School of Law The University of South Dakota School of Law also known as University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law or USD Law in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States, is a professional school of the University of South Dakota and the only law school in ...

in 1977. Hecht worked in private practice in

Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County, ...

for 22 years. His practice included plaintiff civil litigation, workers' compensation, and appeals.

State judicial service

In 1999 Hecht was appointed to the

Iowa Court of Appeals The Iowa Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court of the state of Iowa. Its purpose is to review appeals from trial court decisions which are referred to the court by the Iowa Supreme Court. The court decides the vast majority of ...

by Governor

Tom Vilsack Thomas James Vilsack (; born December 13, 1950) is an American politician serving as the 32nd United States Secretary of Agriculture in the Biden administration. He previously served in the role from 2009 to 2017 during the Obama administration. ...

. In 2004, Hecht received a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

from the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...

. On August 1, 2006, Hecht was appointed by Governor Vilsack to the

. He succeeded Chief Justice Louis A. Lavorato upon Lavorato's retirement and joined the Supreme Court on September 30, 2006. In August 2017, he was retained in a retention election with 64% of the vote. Hecht continued to live in Sioux City as a judge on the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. Hecht worked on civil justice reform with the Institute for the Advancement of the Legal System, the National Center for State Courts, and the Conference of Chief Justices. Hecht, through a press release from the Iowa Judicial Branch on November 16, 2018, announced his retirement from the court due to his battle with

skin cancer Skin cancers are cancers that arise from the skin. They are due to the development of abnormal cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. There are three main types of skin cancers: basal-cell skin cancer (BCC) ...

. His resignation took effect December 13, 2018.

Death

Hecht died on April 3, 2019, at the age of 66 from

melanoma Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...

. Hecht and his wife Sandy had two daughters.

References

External links

Ballotpedia Profile

VoteSmart Profile
1952 births 2019 deaths Justices of the Iowa Supreme Court Morningside University alumni People from Sioux City, Iowa University of South Dakota School of Law alumni University of Virginia School of Law alumni 21st-century American judges Iowa lawyers People from Sac County, Iowa Deaths from skin cancer Deaths from cancer in Iowa 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers {{Iowa-state-judge-stub