Willard Craig Broadwater (August 8, 1950 – December 18, 2006) was a

U.S. federal judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. ...

of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.

Education and career

Born in Elk City,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, Broadwater graduated from

Paden City High School Paden City High School is a 7–12 grade, class A high school in Wetzel County, West Virginia in the small town of Paden City. Paden City High School opened its doors as a 9-12 school in 1951 and graduated its first class in 1952. , Paden City ...

in West Virginia and 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 ...

degree from

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

in 1972 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

West Virginia University College of Law The West Virginia University College of Law is the professional school for the study of law at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. The law school was established in 1878 as the first professional school in the s ...

in 1977. He was also a Lieutenant in 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 ...

from 1972 to 1982. He was in private practice in Wheeling,

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

from 1977 to 1983. He was a Hearing examiner for the West Virginia Worker's Compensation Fund from 1978 to 1981. He was a Special prosecuting attorney of Ohio County, West Virginia from 1982 to 1983, and then became a circuit court judge for the First Judicial Circuit of West Virginia, from 1983 to 1996.

Military career

Among his many assignments, General Broadwater volunteered for duty in Iraq where he commanded the Joint Interagency Task Force for High Value Individuals (JIATF-HVI) from mid 2005 to early 2006. At his death, he was a Brigadier General in the West Virginia National Guard.

Federal judicial service

On January 26, 1996, Broadwater was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia vacated by Robert Earl Maxwell. Broadwater was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on July 12, 1996, and received his commission on July 26, 1996. Broadwater served in that capacity until his death, in 2006, in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Death

Broadwater died on December 18, 2006, at the

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is a $23billion integrated global nonprofit health enterprise that has 92,000 employees, 40 hospitals with more than 8,000 licensed beds, 800 clinical locations including outpatient sites and do ...

of complications of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Broadwater, Willard Craig 1950 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges County prosecuting attorneys in West Virginia Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia Lawyers from Wheeling, West Virginia Military personnel from West Virginia Paden City High School alumni People from Elk City, Oklahoma People from Paden City, West Virginia Politicians from Wheeling, West Virginia United States Army officers United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton West Virginia circuit court judges West Virginia lawyers West Virginia National Guard personnel West Virginia University alumni West Virginia University College of Law alumni