Oklahoma Supreme Court justice dies

October 11, 2010

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Justice Marian Opala, of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, passed away at 1:23 am on October 11, 2010. The justice, who had served on the Supreme Court since 1978, was found unconscious in his home on October 9th by police. Doctors believed he had suffered a severe stroke. The 89-year-old justice died at Integris Baptist Hospital.

Opala first emigrated to the U.S. from Poland at the end of World War II. He received a bachelor's degree in economics and his law degree (1953) from Oklahoma City University. He then earned his master's degree in law from New York University. Prior to his judicial appointment in November of 1978, he worked as an assistant district attorney for Oklahoma County, a private practice lawyer, staff member of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, administrative director of the Oklahoma court system, and as a judge on the State Industrial and Workers' Compensation Courts.