‘Peacemaking’ judge loses valiant fight with cancer
By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
The Washtenaw County legal community — and the state, the nation and the international community — lost a hero with the passing of Judge Timothy Patrick Connors on Oct. 8 after a valiant battle with pancreatic cancer.
Connors died an hour before the Alternative Dispute Section of the State Bar of Michigan honored him with its “Hero of ADR” Award, and one day after his 72nd birthday.
“Judge Timothy P. Connors was a visionary in ADR, a pioneer in bringing together tribal peacemaking and traditional dispute resolution, and a cherished teacher, mentor, and friend,” State Bar Past President Joseph McGill, Honorary Consul of Ireland to the State of Michigan, and an attorney with Foley, Baron, Metzger & Juip, PLLC, wrote to The Legal News. “He embodied the Irish concept of Anam Cara — a soul friend — through the bridges he built, the lives he touched, and the peace he helped create.
“His legacy will endure in the countless people he inspired to listen, understand, and do justice.”
An alum of Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Connors received his B.A. degree from the University of Michigan in 1977 and J.D. degree from the Wayne State University Law School in 1980.
He began his career at Conlin, Conlin, McKenney & Philbrick, before joining Logeman, Connors & Bredell, P.C., where he became Vice-President.
In 1991, he was appointed to the 15th District Court, serving until his appointment to the circuit court in 1997.
Over his career he sat as a circuit, district, and probate court judge, and a tribal court judge, served 11 years as a State Court Chief Judge, served as Presiding Judge for the Business Court and handled civil and ICWA cases.
Connors retired on Dec. 31, 2024, after 34 years on the bench but remained active as a mediator/facilitator, co-founder of Connors Facilitation PLLC, educator, and author.
“His passing is a huge loss,” said Teresa Killeen, a judicial attorney for the Washtenaw County Probate Court, who knew Connors for 20 years. “I’m glad he got to see the outpouring of love for him, and gratitude, in these last two years. He touched many, many lives and was deeply influential on those with whom he interacted.”
In 2013, with support from a Michigan Supreme Court Performance Innovation Fund grant, Connors founded the Washtenaw County Peacemaking Court, the first state-court Peacemaking program of its kind in the nation.
Built in close partnership with the Hon. Michael Petoskey of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in partnership with the late Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael F. Cavanagh, the program brings litigants and trained peacemakers together in circle to resolve disputes including custody, guardianship, estate, and child welfare matters through what Judge Connors called “collective responsibility.”
The model is taught in law schools and has been studied and adapted by state court systems across the country.
Connors served for years as co-chair of the Michigan Tribal-State-Federal Judicial Forum, whose work was instrumental in drafting the Michigan Indian Family Preservation Act, a landmark statute protecting Native children and families that other states have since studied and adapted.
He also served by appointment as Judge Pro Tem for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.
In 2017, the Native American Rights Fund appointed him to its Indigenous Peacemaking Initiative, and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges named him its Innovator of the Year for bringing tribal peacemaking practices into a state court system.
A treasured item was a Peace Pipe presented to him by Little River Band Judge Angela Sherigan, on behalf of the American Indian Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan.
It emained prominently displayed in his courtroom.
Connors taught at the University of Michigan Law School since 2008; an endowment fund is being set up to honor him and continue his legacy of Peacemaking.
He was an adjunct professor at Wayne Law School since 1993; served as faculty for the Institute of Continuing Legal Education; as a guest lecturer for Cooley Law School and Eastern Michigan University; and taught at Vermont Law and Graduate School.
His advocacy helped bring Peacemaking curricula to Columbia, Yale, the University of New Mexico, and the University of Washington.
“Judge Connors was a tremendous teacher, mentor and renowned jurist-peacemaker. He taught, inspired and modeled the very best our profession,” attorney, mediator and friend Chad Engelhardt wrote to The Legal News. “He touched more lives in our community and across the globe than one could imagine. He will be missed and honored.”
Author of foundational articles on Peacemaking, including “Exit, Pursued by a Bear: Why Peacemaking Makes Sense in State Court Justice Systems” (ABA Judges’ Journal, 2016) and “Rights, Relationships, Responsibilities” (ABA Human Rights Journal, 2023), Connors trained hundreds of judges, mediators, and court staff nationwide and taught internationally, including at King’s Inns in Dublin, Ireland.
Proud of his Irish heritage, Connors and his wife Margaret enjoyed visiting the Emerald Isle.
Connors was honored over his career with many awards, including the Michigan Supreme Court’s Daniel J. Wright Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021; 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award from the SBM Negligence Law Section; the Hilda Gage Judicial Excellence Award from the Michigan Judges Association; the Reverend Thomas H. Smith Humanitarian Service Award from the Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church; the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges Innovator of the Year Award; Lifetime Judicial Excellence awards from the Washtenaw County Bar Association, and the Washtenaw Association for Justice; and a Judicial Excellence Award from the SBM Litigation Section this past May, to name just a few.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Anthony Patti forged a friendship when the two presented together in a State Bar seminar on judicial settlement conference practices; and the friendship strengthened during the judge’s illness.
“I had the privilege of walking with him during his last days, often hearing from him about how much he still had left to do, and how he refused to bow to the ‘beast’ of cancer,” Patti told the Legal News. “Tim Connors was a judge of good humor, practicality, fairness and the highest of ethical standards, and a man of tremendous good will, peace, reconciliation and joy. He never let the privilege of being a judge go to his head, but fully understood that it was a vocation of service.
“To say he will be missed is an understatement. He shall rest in peace because he was a man of peace.”
In one of his many articles, Connors wrote the following inspiring words:
“We need to love and to be loved. We need to give and to be given to. We need to laugh and cry and laugh again. We need to see each other as human beings, desperately needing each other as we hurtle through time and space in this ship called Mother Earth. We need to see and feel the goodness and decency that exist within us and around us on this earth. We need to live in the nourishing light of dignity, see it, and acknowledge it. We need peace.”
A hero indeed.
Visitation will be held from 4-6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23, at Muehlig Funeral Chapel, 403 S. 4th Avenue, Ann Arbor, with a rosary said at 6 p.m.
A Memorial Mass will be offered at 11 a.m., on Saturday, Oct. 24, at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 530 Elizabeth Street, Ann Arbor.
Legal News
The Washtenaw County legal community — and the state, the nation and the international community — lost a hero with the passing of Judge Timothy Patrick Connors on Oct. 8 after a valiant battle with pancreatic cancer.
Connors died an hour before the Alternative Dispute Section of the State Bar of Michigan honored him with its “Hero of ADR” Award, and one day after his 72nd birthday.
“Judge Timothy P. Connors was a visionary in ADR, a pioneer in bringing together tribal peacemaking and traditional dispute resolution, and a cherished teacher, mentor, and friend,” State Bar Past President Joseph McGill, Honorary Consul of Ireland to the State of Michigan, and an attorney with Foley, Baron, Metzger & Juip, PLLC, wrote to The Legal News. “He embodied the Irish concept of Anam Cara — a soul friend — through the bridges he built, the lives he touched, and the peace he helped create.
“His legacy will endure in the countless people he inspired to listen, understand, and do justice.”
An alum of Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Connors received his B.A. degree from the University of Michigan in 1977 and J.D. degree from the Wayne State University Law School in 1980.
He began his career at Conlin, Conlin, McKenney & Philbrick, before joining Logeman, Connors & Bredell, P.C., where he became Vice-President.
In 1991, he was appointed to the 15th District Court, serving until his appointment to the circuit court in 1997.
Over his career he sat as a circuit, district, and probate court judge, and a tribal court judge, served 11 years as a State Court Chief Judge, served as Presiding Judge for the Business Court and handled civil and ICWA cases.
Connors retired on Dec. 31, 2024, after 34 years on the bench but remained active as a mediator/facilitator, co-founder of Connors Facilitation PLLC, educator, and author.
“His passing is a huge loss,” said Teresa Killeen, a judicial attorney for the Washtenaw County Probate Court, who knew Connors for 20 years. “I’m glad he got to see the outpouring of love for him, and gratitude, in these last two years. He touched many, many lives and was deeply influential on those with whom he interacted.”
In 2013, with support from a Michigan Supreme Court Performance Innovation Fund grant, Connors founded the Washtenaw County Peacemaking Court, the first state-court Peacemaking program of its kind in the nation.
Built in close partnership with the Hon. Michael Petoskey of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in partnership with the late Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael F. Cavanagh, the program brings litigants and trained peacemakers together in circle to resolve disputes including custody, guardianship, estate, and child welfare matters through what Judge Connors called “collective responsibility.”
The model is taught in law schools and has been studied and adapted by state court systems across the country.
Connors served for years as co-chair of the Michigan Tribal-State-Federal Judicial Forum, whose work was instrumental in drafting the Michigan Indian Family Preservation Act, a landmark statute protecting Native children and families that other states have since studied and adapted.
He also served by appointment as Judge Pro Tem for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.
In 2017, the Native American Rights Fund appointed him to its Indigenous Peacemaking Initiative, and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges named him its Innovator of the Year for bringing tribal peacemaking practices into a state court system.
A treasured item was a Peace Pipe presented to him by Little River Band Judge Angela Sherigan, on behalf of the American Indian Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan.
It emained prominently displayed in his courtroom.
Connors taught at the University of Michigan Law School since 2008; an endowment fund is being set up to honor him and continue his legacy of Peacemaking.
He was an adjunct professor at Wayne Law School since 1993; served as faculty for the Institute of Continuing Legal Education; as a guest lecturer for Cooley Law School and Eastern Michigan University; and taught at Vermont Law and Graduate School.
His advocacy helped bring Peacemaking curricula to Columbia, Yale, the University of New Mexico, and the University of Washington.
“Judge Connors was a tremendous teacher, mentor and renowned jurist-peacemaker. He taught, inspired and modeled the very best our profession,” attorney, mediator and friend Chad Engelhardt wrote to The Legal News. “He touched more lives in our community and across the globe than one could imagine. He will be missed and honored.”
Author of foundational articles on Peacemaking, including “Exit, Pursued by a Bear: Why Peacemaking Makes Sense in State Court Justice Systems” (ABA Judges’ Journal, 2016) and “Rights, Relationships, Responsibilities” (ABA Human Rights Journal, 2023), Connors trained hundreds of judges, mediators, and court staff nationwide and taught internationally, including at King’s Inns in Dublin, Ireland.
Proud of his Irish heritage, Connors and his wife Margaret enjoyed visiting the Emerald Isle.
Connors was honored over his career with many awards, including the Michigan Supreme Court’s Daniel J. Wright Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021; 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award from the SBM Negligence Law Section; the Hilda Gage Judicial Excellence Award from the Michigan Judges Association; the Reverend Thomas H. Smith Humanitarian Service Award from the Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church; the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges Innovator of the Year Award; Lifetime Judicial Excellence awards from the Washtenaw County Bar Association, and the Washtenaw Association for Justice; and a Judicial Excellence Award from the SBM Litigation Section this past May, to name just a few.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Anthony Patti forged a friendship when the two presented together in a State Bar seminar on judicial settlement conference practices; and the friendship strengthened during the judge’s illness.
“I had the privilege of walking with him during his last days, often hearing from him about how much he still had left to do, and how he refused to bow to the ‘beast’ of cancer,” Patti told the Legal News. “Tim Connors was a judge of good humor, practicality, fairness and the highest of ethical standards, and a man of tremendous good will, peace, reconciliation and joy. He never let the privilege of being a judge go to his head, but fully understood that it was a vocation of service.
“To say he will be missed is an understatement. He shall rest in peace because he was a man of peace.”
In one of his many articles, Connors wrote the following inspiring words:
“We need to love and to be loved. We need to give and to be given to. We need to laugh and cry and laugh again. We need to see each other as human beings, desperately needing each other as we hurtle through time and space in this ship called Mother Earth. We need to see and feel the goodness and decency that exist within us and around us on this earth. We need to live in the nourishing light of dignity, see it, and acknowledge it. We need peace.”
A hero indeed.
Visitation will be held from 4-6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23, at Muehlig Funeral Chapel, 403 S. 4th Avenue, Ann Arbor, with a rosary said at 6 p.m.
A Memorial Mass will be offered at 11 a.m., on Saturday, Oct. 24, at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 530 Elizabeth Street, Ann Arbor.
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
https://legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
