Judge Bruce Van Sickle, a federal judge who presided over a landmark class action suit which ultimately changed how the state cares for its mentally disabled citizens, has died.

The 90-year-old judge died in his sleep Saturday morning, April 21, at Missouri Slope Lutheran Care Center.

Van Sickle, a Minot native, presided over a nearly 16-year lawsuit brought by the Association for Retarded Citizens against the state and its institutions at Grafton and San Haven, and through the process determined that the rights and needs of the mentally disabled under the U.S. Constitution, as well as the state constitution and state law, were not being met.

The lawsuit was filed in 1980, and in 1982, he presided over its five-month trial. He eventually ordered the deinstitutionalization of residents housed in the two overcrowded state institutions, resulting in the state spending millions on constructing community-based facilities and, at the same time, reducing the number populations of residents in the facilities.

San Haven was eventually closed, and Grafton went from housing more than 1,000 residents to about 200 today.

Mike Williams, an attorney for ARC who saw the case from the beginning to its 1995 dismissal, said Van Sickle was an incredibly compassion ate judge who wasn't afraid to make unpopular decisions.

"When we started the case in 1980, we weren't sure as to what kind of judge we would be getting,"Williams said. "It was a very unpopular case, and he took a lot of heat because of it."

Often, his handling of the case was questioned by legislators and other state officials, as he ruled for strict standards and compliance under the scope of the federal court.

But despite this, peers say he was well-respected.

"He and Irespected each other,"said Bob Wefald, attorney general during the case and now a U.S. District Court judge. "I thought he did a remarkable job in that lawsuit. And Ithink it turned out for the better of all North Dakota, and particularly for North Dakota's retarded citizens."

"When I left the office of attorney general, I had a good relationship with him," Wefald said.

In his 13 years on the federal bench, Van Sickle presided over at least two landmark cases, including the suit against the state. In the mid-'80s, he heard a class-action lawsuit involving the rights of Farmers Home Administration borrowers, and ruled in favor of farmers, forcing the lending agency to make permanent, nationwide changes in its policies on loan repayments and foreclosures.

"I think (his handling of the case) was masterful,"said Ed Klecker, a former federal clerk of the district court who had also worked with a University of North Dakota's professor's monitoring of Van Sickle's rulings in the ARC case. "He again showed compassion for the farmers of North Dakota. He was a real champion of the entire state."

Van Sickle's daughter, Susan, said that was typical for her father.

"He really delighted in the people of the state, delighted in the conversations with folks in the small towns and the communities that he traveled through and did business in,"she said.

Van Sickle, who graduated from high school in 1935, was quoted in an earlier Tribune article as saying he decided on law at the early age of 16, when he was "beginning to rebel intellectually."

He received his bachelor's and juris doctorate degrees from the University of Minnesota, and served in the Marines from 1941 to 1946.

After returning to Minot to practice law, he served two terms in the state Legislature. In 1971, President Richard Nixon appointed him to replace U.S. District Court Judge George S. Register.

Before being appointed, he did court work in Montana and Canada, and practiced law in Minot for 25 years.

He semi-retired in 1985, and accepted "senior status"as a federal judge, meaning he could continue to hear cases assigned to him. Good thing, since the ARC case continued through to 1996.

The move to senior status also made room for a second federal judge in western North Dakota.

Van Sickle's daughter said describing everything about him was difficult to condense.

"There were so many different (aspects) of his personality,"Susan said. "He was a judge, a lover of the state of North Dakota, a lover of the people of North Dakota."

Van Sickle is survived by his wife, Dorothy, 91. He was also a father of four, a grandfather and a great-grandfather.

He is also survived by four brothers and one sister:Neil, Harry, Ross and Earl, and sister Grace Treat.

The service for Van Sickle is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday, April 26, at the United Church of Christ, and is open to the public. Seating may be limited.

(Reach reporter Crystal R. Reid at 250-8261 or at crystal.reid@;bismarcktribune.com.)