A memorial gathering is scheduled Friday for retired federal Judge Barbara Hackett.
Hackett died Sunday in her Brighton home surrounded by her family. She was 90.
The U.S. District Court in Detroit said the service will be held from 5-8 p.m. Friday at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Brighton.
A Mass of the Resurrection is scheduled at 10 a.m. Saturday at the church.
Hackett served more than two decades on the federal bench in Detroit as a magistrate judge and district judge.
Her family said she had been in declining health for some time.
“Judge Hackett was a beautiful and strong woman,” said Chief U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood of the Eastern District of Michigan. “Being strong included being savvy and smart and yet ‘gentle-womanly.’ She was tough when necessary.”
Former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Maura Corrigan called Hackett “a trailblazer who helped the women who came behind her at a time when there weren’t many of us in the profession.”
Hackett was born in Detroit, the daughter of parents who lost their jobs and nearly all they had in the Great Depression.
The oldest of two daughters, Hackett said their parents insisted that both girls get a college education.
After receiving her high school diploma in 1945, she enrolled at the University of Detroit.
Hackett received a philosophy degree in 1948 and a law degree from U of D Law School in 1950. She was a talented pianist and considered a career in music, but opted for the law partly because of the influence of a seventh-grade teacher.
On the first day of law school, Hackett met her eventual husband, Patrick E. Hackett.
They had seven daughters. Patrick Hackett, a prominent railroad lawyer in Detroit, died in December 2017 after 65 years of marriage.
Barbara Hackett served in a variety of legal roles after getting her law degree — all while raising her children.
She was a staff assistant in the Law Department for the Michigan-Wisconsin Pipeline Co. in 1950-51; law clerk for U.S. District Judge Frank Picard of the Eastern District of Michigan in 1951-52; and in private practice from 1952-65.
Hackett served as chief law clerk of the newly-created Michigan Court of Appeals in 1965-66; assistant Wayne County prosecutor in 1967-72; then resumed private practice.
In 1973, Hackett was appointed federal magistrate judge in the Eastern District, the first woman to hold that position. She left in 1984 to be of counsel to her husband’s law firm and founded the Republican Women’s Forum.
In April of 1986, President Ronald Reagan appointed her to the U.S. District Court bench in Detroit.
"Everyone who appeared before Judge Barbara Hackett knew they were coming before a no-nonsense, well-prepared, and highly dignified judge who would listen to all sides and render a fair and carefully considered ruling – in a timely fashion,” said U.S. District Judge Terrence Berg, who tried cases before her as an assistant U.S. attorney.
Hackett transferred to the U.S. Courthouse in Ann Arbor in 1997. She went on senior status on April 8,1997 but continued with a full caseload until 1999. She retired for health reasons in early 2000.
Hackett is survived by daughters Sue Delonis (the late Bob Delonis), Carol Hackett Garagiola (Steve), Lynn Hackett, Meg Hackett, M. Patricia
Hackett (Rita Koehler), Elizabeth Hackett (Richard Parry), and Sarah Hackett (Greg Cascione); 11 grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
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