PORTLAND, Maine — Vincent L. McKusick, former chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, died Wednesday afternoon in Falmouth at the age of 93, according to Pierce Atwood, the law firm with which he was associated for many years.
McKusick was appointed chief justice by Gov. James B. Longley Sr., and he served in that capacity from Sept.16, 1977, until Feb. 28, 1992. He returned to Pierce Atwood, where he worked from 1952 to 1977, after his retirement from the bench.
“He was an extraordinary, brilliant, gentlemanly jurist,” Leigh I. Saufley, chief justice of the state’s high court, said in a statement issued Thursday. “He was one of the most able and successful lawyers in Maine, he gave up a lucrative private legal practice to serve the state for 14 years. On behalf of the Maine judicial branch, especially those who knew him or worked with him, we will miss him terribly.”
McKusick was in the Pierce Atwood office five days a week until he turned 90, Gloria Pinza, managing partner, said Thursday.
“He was an extraordinary person in terms of his legal ability,” she said. “But, he also was a person equally comfortable in writing a brief for the nation’s highest court and having lunch with a young associate.”
Pinza said that McKusick was always curious and interested in new things, including technology.
Ralph I. Lancaster Jr., 84, of Falmouth met McKusick in 1959 when Lancaster went to work for Pierce Atwood.
“He had a remarkable intelligence, passion, decency and humility,” Lancaster said of his close friend. “I will miss his companionship, leadership, sense of humor and mentoring.”
McKusick was born on Oct. 21, 1921, in Parkman to Carroll L. and Ethel (Buzzell) McKusick, the identical twin brother of Dr. Victor A. McKusick, according to information posted on the court system’s website. The physician, who died in July 2008 at the age of 86, was a longtime professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore.
“We were deeply saddened by the news of Justice McKusick’s passing,” former Gov. John McKernan and his wife, former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, said in statement released Thursday. “He was not only an individual of profound ability, but also one of great integrity, modesty, and kindness.
“From humble beginnings on a dairy farm in Parkman, Maine, Justice Mckusick emerged as one of the brightest and most accomplished individuals our state has ever produced,” the statement said. “Through his service in U.S. Army and his dedication to legal pursuits over the course of more than six decades, he demonstrated a passionate devotion to public service and left an indelible mark on our state and our nation. He will be greatly missed even as his countless contributions endure.”
The judge was educated at Guilford High School and graduated in 1943 from Bates College in Lewiston. He later obtained a Master of Science degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his law degree in 1950 from Harvard Law School.
Vincent McKusick served in the U.S. Army from 1943 until 1946, spending 14 months on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, New Mexico.
From 1950 until 1951, he served as a law clerk to Judge Learned Hand of the U.S. 2nd Court of Appeals. He then clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter from 1951 until 1952.
He is survived by his wife Nancy McKusick and four children. Funeral arrangements were pending late Thursday.