‘Peacemaking’ Judge Timothy P. Connors loses his long, valiant battle with cancer
By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
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 October 8 after a valiant battle with pancreatic cancer. He 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 PC, 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. He retired on December 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 Honorable 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 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 remained 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 State University 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.”
The 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.
Dr Róisín O’Shea, mediator, independent researcher, chair of the Irish Professional Mediators’ Organisation and adjunct senior lecturer at the School of Law University College Cork, first met Connors when both presented at the 2019 AFCC conference in Toronto in 2019.
“Some of us are fortunate enough in this life to meet another human being who not only inspires us but helps us to be our very best self, and Tim Connors was just such a man for me,” O’Shea emailed The Legal News. “He challenged me, supported me, urged me to listen to my instincts and to be fearless. A strange choice of words in my world of mediation and peace-making, but hard-fought battles have played out over the years in this community, where value conflict has been driven by differing ideologies and views as to how the profession of mediation should develop; often to the detriment of the users, those who just want to find solutions away from adversarial legal systems. Tim introduced me to his world of Tribal Court Peacemaking, which he started in 2013 and encouraged me to arrange a seminar in January 2020 in Kings Inns in Dublin where I was studying for a barrister-at-law degree. He volunteered to be the keynote speaker and delivered a passionate address to a packed room of law students, lawyers and judges about the over-whelming benefits of mediation and peace-making; his words still resonate today.
“Tim became a dear friend and our last Zoom call with his wonderful wife Margaret on August 16 was filled with reminiscing, laughter, tears, and excitement as I explained his support has meant I am now writing a scoping report for the European Parliament on Family Mediation across the Member States,” O’Shea related. “Tim was an extraordinary human being and his flame will be carried on by those of us who were fortunate enough to know him, and the world will be a better place for it.”
The Litigation Section of the State Bar of Michigan presented its Judicial Excellence Award to Judge Connors (center) in May. Flanking him at the ceremony were former State Bar President Joseph McGill (left) and Ann Arbor attorney and MAJ member Chad Engelhardt.
(Photo by Michelle Kregar)
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. So, it was a friendship in many ways forged in suffering, and because of that, our love for each other was especially poignant,” Judge Patti wrote to 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. His love for Ireland—and his Irish wit—enriched all those around him, even his Italian friends, as I can readily attest!
“He was a very open person, and in that openness, did not shy away from allowing us to walk with him in his suffering, having the humility to live vulnerably and in full view during his final days for all the world to see as illness wracked his body, continuing to teach, to mediate and to live life to its last drop,” Patti noted. “And through it all, he personified the notion that “although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). He lived in gratefulness for every gift and kindness shown to him, keenly aware and thankful for the love and support of his family, especially his dear wife Margaret. 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 to 6 p.m. on Friday, October 23, at Muehlig Funeral Chapel, 403 S. 4th Avenue in Ann Arbor, with a rosary said at 6 p.m. A Memorial Mass will be offered at 11 a.m., on Saturday, October 24, at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 530 Elizabeth Street in Ann Arbor.
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. So, it was a friendship in many ways forged in suffering, and because of that, our love for each other was especially poignant,” Judge Patti wrote to 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. His love for Ireland—and his Irish wit—enriched all those around him, even his Italian friends, as I can readily attest!
“He was a very open person, and in that openness, did not shy away from allowing us to walk with him in his suffering, having the humility to live vulnerably and in full view during his final days for all the world to see as illness wracked his body, continuing to teach, to mediate and to live life to its last drop,” Patti noted. “And through it all, he personified the notion that “although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). He lived in gratefulness for every gift and kindness shown to him, keenly aware and thankful for the love and support of his family, especially his dear wife Margaret. 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 to 6 p.m. on Friday, October 23, at Muehlig Funeral Chapel, 403 S. 4th Avenue in Ann Arbor, with a rosary said at 6 p.m. A Memorial Mass will be offered at 11 a.m., on Saturday, October 24, at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 530 Elizabeth Street in Ann Arbor.
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