Joseph Albert Wapner (November 15, 1919 – February 26, 2017) was an American

Judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

and Television Personality. He is best known as the first presiding judge of the ongoing

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...

court show A court show (also known as a judge show, legal/courtroom program, courtroom series, or judicial show) is a broadcast programming subgenre of either legal dramas or reality legal programming. Court shows present content mainly in the form of lega ...

The People's Court ''The People's Court'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show, featuring an arbitrator handling small claims disputes in a simulated courtroom set. Within the court show genre, it is the first of all arbitration-based reality styl ...

''. The court show's first run in

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

, with Judge Wapner presiding as Judge, lasted from 1981 to 1993, for a total of 12 seasons and 2,484 episodes. While the show's second run has been presided over by multiple judges, Judge Wapner was the sole judge to preside during the court show's first incarnation. His tenure on the program made him the first jurist of arbitration-based reality court shows, which evolved into the most popular trend in the judicial genre and continues to be to the present.

Early life

Joseph Albert Wapner was born on November 15, 1919, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, California, to

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

parents who had immigrated there; his father, attorney Joseph Max Wapner (1898–1992), was from

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, while his mother, Fannie (''née'' Friedman) (1900–1990), was from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Wapner had a younger sister named Irene. Wapner attended

Hollywood High School Hollywood High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located at the intersection of North Highland Avenue and West Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. Histo ...

and once dated actress

Lana Turner Lana Turner ( ; born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Over the course of her nearly 50-year career, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized per ...

while in high school. Wapner was a graduate of the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

(1941) and the

USC Law School The USC Gould School of Law, located in Los Angeles, California, is the law school of the University of Southern California. The oldest law school in the Southwestern United States, USC Law traces its beginnings to 1896 and became affiliated with ...

(1948), serving in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in between. Wapner was awarded the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...

and the

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

while serving in the South Pacific in

Cebu Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 ...

. He was honorably discharged from the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

Career

Legal career

Wapner was an attorney in private practice for ten years. Appointed by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Pat Brown Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he w ...

to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1959,Okamoto, Sherri M.
Wapner: From Jurist to TV Star to the Man on the Root Beer Bottle
Metropolitan News-Enterprise, July 17, 2009, page 3 Wapner served two years before being elevated to the

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

, where he served for 18 years before retiring. While serving on the Superior Court bench, Wapner also served as presiding judge in 1969 and 1970. Wapner was also president of the California Judges Association in 1975 and 1976, and retired from the court on November 16, 1979.

''The People's Court''

Wapner was the first judge to preside over the

.'' His tenure on the program lasted from 1981 to 1993, making for a grand total of 2,340 half-hour episodes. On the series, he conducted a binding

arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...

that was set up to resemble a

small claims court Small-claims courts have limited jurisdiction to hear civil cases between private litigants. Courts authorized to try small claims may also have other judicial functions, and go by different names in different jurisdictions. For example, it may b ...

by pitting parties, without lawyers, against each other. The legacy of the show's high popularity has led to myriad other similar syndicated courtroom shows, such as ''

Judge Judy ''Judge Judy'' is an American Court show#Arbitration-based reality court show, arbitration-based reality court show presided over by former Manhattan Family Court Judge Judy Sheindlin, Judith Sheindlin. The show featured Sheindlin as she adjudi ...

'' and ''

Hot Bench ''Hot Bench'' is a nontraditional panel-based court show that made its debut in first-run syndication on September 15, 2014. The series is produced by ''Judge Judy''s Judge Judy Sheindlin, who also created the program and concept with executi ...

'', among others. After 12 seasons on ''The People's Court'', Wapner was not invited back to the series in 1993, when the ratings had dropped to an all-time low. After a four-year hiatus, beginning in 1993, ''The People's Court'' returned to the air in 1997, though without Wapner, and still runs today. Wapner has stated that he was told years later that the producers did not want to hurt his feelings; however, he stated that this is exactly what the show did. Wapner also stated that he was not notified when the producers decided to revamp the series. He declined to offer any opinions on the ''People's Court'' judges who succeeded him, as he never watched the revamped program. On November 12, 2009, Wapner received a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...

. He and

Judith Sheindlin Judith Susan Sheindlin (''née'' Blum; born October 21, 1942), known professionally as Judge Judy, is an American court show arbitrator, media personality, television producer, author, women's advancement philanthropist and former prosecutor an ...

of the television court show ''Judge Judy'' were the only two television jurists who have received the honor as of 2009. Wapner was publicly critical of Sheindlin's courtroom adjudicating approach. On November 13, 2009, in honor of his 90th birthday on November 15, Wapner made a one-time-only return to the court show, acting as a guest judge, presiding over a case in the

Marilyn Milian Marilyn Milian (born May 1, 1961) is an American television personality, lecturer, and retired Florida Circuit Court judge. Since March 12, 2001, Milian has presided over the American courtroom television series ''The People's Court''. She is th ...

era of ''The People's Court''. Until the summer of 2013, Wapner also held the title of longest-reigning arbiter over ''The People's Court''. However, by completion of the court show's 2012–2013 season, Milian captured this title from him and became the longest-reigning judge over the series.

Other media appearances and endeavors

Five years after presiding over ''The People's Court'', Wapner returned to television as a judge in spin-off nontraditional courtroom series '' Judge Wapner's Animal Court'', lasting for two seasons (1998–1999 and 1999–2000) on

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily dev ...

. Wapner authored a book, ''A View from the Bench'' (1987, Simon and Schuster, ). On Alice Cooper's 1983 album “DaDa” there is “Special Thanks to Judge Joseph A. Wapner” on the back cover. On June 27, 1986, Wapner appeared on the ''

Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 2010� ...

'' to hear a case of

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982 debut of ''Late Night with David Letterman' ...

vs.

Johnny Carson John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known as the host of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson received six Pr ...

over alleged damage to the headlight of Letterman's pickup truck when Carson had the truck towed to the studio. Wapner ruled in favor of Letterman, granting him $24.95. In 1995 he appeared as an alternate-universe version of himself as Commissar of a "People's Court" in a Soviet-controlled California in an early episode of ''

Sliders Slider or Sliders may refer to: Arts * K.K. Slider, a fictional character within the ''Animal Crossing'' franchise * '' The Slider'', a 1972 album by T. Rex * ''Sliders'' (TV series), an American science fiction and fantasy television series * ...

''.

Endorsements

During 1999–2000, Wapner served as the national spokesperson for Singer Asset Finance Company, LLC, a specialty finance company, appearing in national television commercials and print ads. Since around 2010, the soda company Rocket Fizz has marketed a beverage, Judge Wapner Cream Soda, featuring the slogan, "I sentence you to drink my cream soda."

Personal life, final years and death

Wapner was active in

causes, including sitting on the board of a Jewish school. He married Mildred "Mickey" Nebenzahl in 1946. Their daughter Sarah died from

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, hea ...

in May 2015 at age 56. They also had two sons who became attorneys: David Miron-Wapner and Frederick Nathan Wapner, the latter of whom was a prosecutor and LA District Attorney who also became a judge (including with the Los Angeles County Superior Court). Wapner also had four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Wapner died from

respiratory failure Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, meaning that the arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide, or both cannot be kept at normal levels. A drop in the oxygen carried in the blood is known as hypoxemia; a rise ...

on February 26, 2017, at his home in Los Angeles. He was 97 years old. He is interred at

Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery is the largest Jewish cemetery organization in California. History Mount Sinai Memorial Parks and Mortuaries, owned by Sinai Temple of Los Angeles, refers to two Jewish cemeteries in the Los Angeles metropo ...

in Los Angeles.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wapner, Joseph 1919 births 2017 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II California state court judges Lawyers from Los Angeles Writers from Los Angeles USC Gould School of Law alumni Jewish American attorneys Television judges Military personnel from California Jewish American military personnel Superior court judges in the United States American people of Romanian-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent American writers of Russian descent Burials at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers United States Army officers 21st-century American Jews Respiratory disease deaths in California