March/April 2005 issue
In Memoriam: Judge Harry H. MacLaughlin
On Wednesday, May 3, 2005,
Judge Harry H. MacLaughlin of the
District of Minnesota passed
away from complications from
pneumonia. He was 78 years old.
Harry Hunter MacLaughlin was born in
Breckenridge, Minnesota in 1927. From 1945 to
1946 he served as a yoeman in the U.S. Navy.
He received his bachelor’s degree in business
administration in 1949 from the University of
Minnesota and his law degree in 1956 from the
University of Minnesota Law School.
After graduating from law school he practiced
with the firm of Larson, Loevinger, Lindquist,
Freeman & Fraser. In 1957 he teamed up with
Walter Mondale to establish the firm of
MacLaughlin & Mondale. In 1960 it became the
firm of MacLaughlin & Harstad. During this
time he also served as an instructor at the
William Mitchell College of Law. He continued
with the practice until 1970 when he was
appointed as an associate justice to the
Minnesota Supreme Court.
In 1977 Judge MacLaughlin was appointed to
the federal bench for the District of Minnesota.
He served as Chief Judge for the district during
1992. For some of his years on the bench he
served as a lecturer at the University of
Minnesota Law School. He assumed senior
status in October 1992.
In 1983 American Lawyer Magazine named
Judge MacLaughlin the Best District Court
Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit. His former
law partner and former Vice President Walter
Mondale remembers him as “one of the most
impressive, important jurists in Minnesota
history.”
Judge MacLaughlin is survived by his wife,
Mary, and sons, David and Doug.
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