Jack Tanner, 86; Federal Judge Known for Controversial Decisions

Jack Tanner, 86, the first African American federal judge in the Pacific Northwest who was also known for his sometimes controversial decisions, died Tuesday of pancreatic cancer at his home in Tacoma, Wash.

Nominated to the bench by President Carter in 1978, Tanner ruled in 1983 that women were entitled to equal pay for doing the same work as men. The decision was eventually overturned, but women’s rights advocates considered it a victory and it brought national attention to the issue.

Born in Tacoma in 1919, Tanner was the son of a longshoreman. During World War II, he served in the Pacific in a segregated Army unit that he said gave him a broad view of racial discrimination in the U.S.

After earning his law degree from the University of Washington in 1955 -- where he said he was the only black student -- Tanner worked on the docks while building his practice.

As a judge, he earned the nickname “Maximum Jack” for the harsh sentences he handed out in drug cases. In 1998 Tanner did the extreme opposite, ordering a one-day sentence for assault with intent to kill in the case of an abused woman who had attacked her husband.