Judge Kevin Duffy. Photo: Rick Kopstein/NYLJ

Former U.S. District Judge Kevin Thomas Duffy, who served on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1972 until his retirement in 2016, died last week at age 87 of COVID-19.

As obituaries published in the New York Times and the Washington Post report, Judge Duffy served on the federal bench with smarts and skill, personal courage about threats to his safety, and a commitment to high standards.

I know directly that Judge Duffy was very smart, interesting, and kindly. He was genuinely beloved by many, which is life's final score.

I also know that Judge Duffy could be tough on, even frightening to, those who appeared before him. My former students' stories of interviewing with him included reports that he had quizzed them hard about Shakespeare's plays, lines therefrom, the Bible, history, and geography, among other topics. The interviewees all survived. Some got to be Duffy interns or hired to be Duffy law clerks. They loved the work and they loved him. I always told any St. John's student or alumnus who was heading into a Duffy interview that it might be rough, and how lucky they were. (One student, Tim Casey, really got it—he researched and wrote a paper-become-article, "President Nixon's Prescience," about Judge Duffy's life and career.)

Yesterday's New York Times includes a paid notice of Judge Duffy's passing. Its text is brief:

The Assistant United States Attorneys SDNY (1959-1961) mourn the passing of our beloved friend and colleague, Kevin Thomas Duffy.

It is "signed" by what apparently is a group, "Hazard's Hundred." That might puzzle at least non-lawyers, non-New Yorkers, and younger readers.

"Hazard's Hundred" is a nickname, self-bestowed, of those who, Kevin Duffy included, served as AUSAs under U.S. Attorney S. Hazard Gillespie, appointed by President Eisenhower.

Mr. Gillespie's New York Times obituary shows that his life spanned a century, 1910-2011. His legal career ran from working for John W. Davis and on Erie Railroad v. Tompkins to World War II military service, service in state and federal government, and many years as a leading Davis, Polk, and Wardwell partner.

With Judge Duffy's passing, there cannot be very many of "Hazard's Hundred" who remain.

But they are, like all who are here and then departing, and maybe especially in this time of COVID-19, leaving life examples of high value.

They leave their valuable legacies most directly to their personal survivors and their professional colleagues and successors.

They also leave inspiration and genuine hope to all of us. Their lives, to a person, saw dark days and then better times. And each contributed to that progress.

So many who are here now will, with focused efforts and, yes, luck, become their successors in having great-life-story accomplishments.

John Q. Barrett is Professor of Law at St. John's University, where he teaches constitutional law and legal history. He also is Elizabeth S. Lenna Fellow at the Robert H. Jackson Center and writes The Jackson List, http://thejacksonlist.com.