Remembered as a trailblazer and someone who had incredible temperament on the bench, retired U.S. District Judge Ellen Bree Burns of the District of Connecticut died Monday afternoon in New Haven. She was 95 years old.

A Connecticut native, Burns was both the first female judge on the state Superior Court and the federal bench in Connecticut, when then-President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the post in 1978.

Burns, who presided over hundreds of cases, both criminal and civil, stayed on the federal bench until 2015, when she stepped down as a senior judge at the age of 91. Her peers say she leaves a legacy of commitment. Among female attorneys in the last four decades, she was viewed as an icon.

“For me, and other women coming into law during the 1970s and 1980s, you could imagine being a judge because she was there,” said U.S. District Judge Janet Hall. “She was not only doing the job, but doing it extremely well. She was a role model and, for me, a friend and a mentor.”

Hall, who appeared before Burns in many cases in the 1980s, joined her on the federal bench in 1997. Their friendship lasted 22 years, and Hall last saw Burns about a month ago.

“She was a kind and thoughtful person, very level-headed,” Hall told the Connecticut Law Tribune Wednesday. “She did not demonstrate anger. She had a wonderful temperament and she always appeared calm on the bench. She really epitomized what a trial court judge should be.”

During their last visit together, Hall said her friend “was sitting up in the chair and alert. We had some conversations about some of the cases going on in the court now. She was her same self.”

Longtime New Haven attorney Hugh Keefe got to know Burns in the 1970s.

Echoing Hall, Keefe, a partner with Lynch, Traub, Keefe & Errante, said: “She personified the most important characteristic a judge could have and that is good temperament.”

Keefe, who tried numerous cases in front of Burns, said Wednesday, “She never once lost her cool and always ran an inviting courtroom. She was decent to the lawyers, witnesses, prosecutors and defense lawyers. You name it.”

One moment that Keefe said he'll always remember fondly was when Burns got off the bench and hugged his client, a defendant in a manslaughter case.

“It's the only time I ever saw a judge come off the bench and hug a criminal defendant,” said Keefe, an attorney for five decades. “After the verdict and after my client, an 18-year-old kid, was acquitted by the jury, she came down off the bench crying and she put her arms around my client. She got to realize during trial that my client was innocent and I think she was hoping the jury would find it that way.” Keefe had represented a man who was charged with nine counts of manslaughter in relation to a drag race in New Haven decades ago.

Keefe said both male and female attorneys respected and admired Burns, but, he said, she had a soft spot for young female lawyers.

“She appreciated how difficult it was for young female lawyers to do the job,” Keefe said. “She was very careful with them and did it in a way that did not, in the least, prejudice the other side.”

Burns' three children all became lawyers. Hall said, “She was very proud of them and demonstrated that you could be a professional, a judge, and raise a family.”