Judge Thomas Griesa, a longtime federal judge who oversaw the legal fights over Argentina's debt, died Sunday at the age of 87.

Griesa, who was born in Kansas City, Missouri, was appointed to the federal bench by President Richard Nixon in 1972 and served as chief judge to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1993 to 2000. He assumed senior status in March 2000.

In 2014, Griesa presided over Argentina's debt restructuring, which pitted the administrations of Argentina's successive presidents Nestor Kirchner and his wife, Christina Fernandez de Kirchner, against creditors. Griesa ruled in favor of the creditors, which included Paul Singer's hedge fund, saying Argentina had to pay the holdouts before it could pay other creditors with renegotiated debt. His rulings were upheld on appeal. In March 2016, Argentina agreed to pay $4.7 billion to resolve the debt claims.

Colleen McMahon, the Southern District's chief judge, said Griesa “leaves a legacy of many important decisions.”

“But among the courthouse family, he will be particularly remembered as the chief judge who brought both the Moynihan and Brieant Courthouse construction projects to a successful conclusion—a feat commemorated by the Board of Judges' decision to name its meeting room in his honor,” McMahon said in a statement. “He gave our court seven years of wise leadership, and he gave his country 45 years of devoted service. He was particularly proud that he and the other judges with whom he has served have been assiduously non-political.”