Albert Joseph Morhard

ALBERT J. MORHARD (1929-2025)

Noted trial attorney and Judge Albert J. Morhard passed away on Saturday morning, August 16. He was 95 years old.

Al lived his long and exemplary life with rare integrity and a deep commitment to fairness. He was devoted to pursuing excellence in his many and varied endeavors, whether they related to sports, legal matters or his adored family. He truly was a "man for all seasons" -- a person of uncommon character, maintaining his principles regardless of circumstances.

As a young boy growing up in University Heights, he played third base on the Little Indians, a team his mother Josephine organized during the Depression to help neighborhood boys like her son "turn out right." Al often recalled the thrill of playing then, especially in the 1941 Little World Series in League Park, the Cleveland Indians' own ballpark.

His baseball skills earned him a spot on the 1947 Cleveland Heights State Championship Baseball Team. By then his favorite sport was football and he excelled, becoming an All-Ohio quarterback and garnering a football scholarship to Western Reserve University. There he played football, baseball and track, was editor of The Tribune newspaper, President of his senior class and selected as a member of Omicron Delta Kappa National Honor Society.

He received a BA degree in history but wanted more education and entered Cornell University Law School, where he received a JD. He then entered private practice in the demanding specialty of litigation.

Al was the lead trial attorney in over 300 jury trials, representing individual plaintiffs, defendants and major corporations; and in over 100 bench trials.  He briefed and argued cases before the 8th District Court of Appeals, 11th District Court of Appeals and the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals

Beyond his work as an attorney, he was devoted both to improving his profession and the legal system. He collaborated on authoring, formulating and implementing the mandatory arbitration system for Common Please courts in the State of Ohio. (SpCtSupRul 15)

He became President of the Cuyahoga County Bar Association, where he created and implemented the area's first Oral Advocacy Institute, aimed at training lawyers to try cases more effectively, held in cooperation with Judges of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas courts and taught by prominent area attorneys.

Continuing this focus, Al, as President of the Cleveland Academy of Trial Attorneys, organized and conducted seminars on all aspects of litigation. He was an effective Trustee of the Cleveland Law Library, the Ohio State Bar Foundation and served as chairman of the Common Pleas Court Committee of the Cleveland Bar Association and the Cuyahoga County Bar Association, served on the Ethics Committee of the Cleveland Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association Committee on Specialization and was a member of other Cleveland area, Ohio and national legal organizations.

He published articles in bar journals, newspapers and appeared on television discussing topics like improving the quality of trial lawyers, the judicial selection process and the responsibility of bar associations to the community.

While still an attorney, he became Acting Judge in the Lyndhurst Municipal Court, hearing all civil cases and continuing in that role for 20 years.  After retiring in 2000, he wanted to pass his knowledge on to the next generation and became an adjunct professor at Kent State University campuses.

In his personal life, his love for his three children was unbounding. As his legal career was flourishing, he unexpectedly added the unfamiliar task of caring for them as a single parent. Taking on this daunting responsibility, he did his utmost to pass on the time-honored values he believed in so strongly.

Al worked out every day of his life until he became ill. He loved boats and could often be seen in his Sea Ray, cigar smoke billowing in the wind, boating around the Great Lakes, cruising across Lake Erie to Canada, plodding through the Welland Canal to Toronto or heading westward to Lake Huron. Later in life, Al took on another years-long project--building ponds in his yard, creating an enviable park-like setting.

He and his wife Ruth (Hanford Reid) shared 48 happy and fulfilling years together. She survives him, as do Al's children Dr. Susan Louise Posada (Miguel), Albert Joseph Morhard. Jr.(Kristina), and Kathleen Ann Miller (Steven); stepchildren Gerald Michael Reid, Mary Elisabeth Reid (Raymond Rundelli), Patricia Lynn Reid,; grandchildren Kristopher Morhard, Alexandria Posada, Lauren Baker (Anderson), Daniel Miller, Matthew Miller, Thomas Miller, John Miller and Andrew Miller, step-grandchildren Dr. Cody Johnson (Megan); Claire Rundelli (Steve), Grace Moehring (Kevin), Shannon Reid, Kelly Reid; great grandchild Avery Marsolais, step-great grandchildren Josephine Johnson and Saoirse Johnson. Predeceasing Al were his grandchild Nicholas Posada and step-child Margrit Reid (Jimmy Roddy).

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in his memory to the Hospice of the Western Reserve, WVIZ Ideastream or an organization of your choice.

A memorial/celebration of life will be held Saturday, September 20 at 3 PM at Albert and Ruth Morhard's home in Chardon, 8382 Woodhill Drive, Chardon, OH 44024.  The memorial will be livestreamed via a link on this web page.