Retired U.S. District Judge Sam C. Pointer Jr. has died. He was 73-years-old.

Many of us remember Judge Pointer because in the 1990s he presided over the complex litigation of silicone-gel breast implant lawsuits.

President Nixon named Pointer in 1970 to the bench for the Northern District of Alabama, the state’s largest federal court district. He was the youngest judge to be appointed to the Federal Bench. He served as chief judge of the district from January 1982 until November 1999.

Before he presided over the silicone implant issue, Judge Pointer issued controversial decisions as Birmingham, Alabama, desegregated its school systems in the 1970s. He ordered the children bused and received death threats which required that he have round-the-clock protection by Federal marshals.

I remember Judge Pointer well. He was intelligent, perceptive and fair. I know this because I watched him in person, month after month, at status conferences where the silicone implant case was tried. Of course, as a silicone implant claimant, I wanted Judge Pointer to rule every argument in favor of the plaintiffs. But, according to the United States laws that he was required to uphold, he could not.

He was never cavalier about his judgments. You knew that he had read and studied and thought about every brief presented in his court. He urged both sides to reach agreement before court started.

And in the end, with defendants financially secure enough that they could fight this issue forever, and plaintiffs knowing that they were correct in their accusations but limited in resources, Judge Pointer allowed a settlement to be fashioned. A settlement meant that nobody got everything they wanted, but it brought the case to a point where monies could be paid to injured women. And, it was, at the time, the largest class action settlement in the history of the United States.

There was a Fairness Hearing. I remember Judge Pointer sitting at a bridge table in front of an audience of women who came to tell him they did or didn’t think the ultimate settlement was fair. He listened for eight hours per day for three full days. He had been threatened and everyone had to go through metal detectors to be allowed in the auditorium. One woman was found to be carrying a gun.

Judge Pointer listened to each woman and helped those who could not easily express their concerns tell him and the audience about their experiences. He was patient and kind to each speaker.

I believe that Judge Pointer understood that there was not enough money in the world to restore the health and pride of the women who had been injured. I believe that he thought the settlement was the best solution to the complicated problems the case presented.

Judge Pointer gave us his heart, his energy, his intelligence and his attention. I will miss him. He taught me that a settlement requires compromise on both sides even though that compromise was hard to reach and even harder to accept.

He was a fine man.

In deference to Judge Pointer’s family, we will not take comments on this event.