FEBRUARY 3 • 2022 | 63

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F

or nearly a quarter-
century, Arthur 
Tarnow was a United 
States District Court Judge 
in Detroit. A person of great 
empathy who cared about 
the disadvantaged, Judge 
Tarnow would daily box 
half his lunch and give it to 
homeless people on nearby 
Downtown streets.
The judge’s empathy 
would also extend to the 
criminal defendants he 
sent to prison, explains his 
wife, Jackie Tarnow. “When 
my husband sentenced 
people, he talked very 
compassionately and told 
them, ‘This offense is one 
thing that happened in your 
life that you have to take 
responsibility for.’”
But the judge didn’t forget 
about the people he sent to 
prison. He also established 
a unique Meet-and-Greet 
program where he would 
assist former prisoners who 
had just completed their 
terms so they could find a 
place back in society. 
“It was an act of 
kindness,” his wife said. 
“My husband and the 
supervisory officers of the 
Court worked with the 
former prisoners to help 
them find jobs, health care, 
a place to live and whatever 
they needed.
“Art has received letters 
from many former prisoners 
who were successful in 
returning to the community 
— thanking him for saving 
their lives and giving them 
direction,” his wife said.
“Art Tarnow was the 

exemplification of rachmones 
— compassion,” said long-
time friend and Detroit 
criminal defense attorney 
Steve Fishman.
Judge Arthur Tarnow, 
79, of Detroit, died of heart 
disease on Jan. 21, 2022.

LEGAL CAREER
Judge Tarnow was a native 
Detroiter who graduated 
from Mumford High School 
and Wayne State University 
Law School. As a young 
attorney, he worked in 
Detroit’s Legal Aid and 
Defender office under future 
city councilman and U.S. 
Sen. Carl Levin. In 1970, 
Tarnow became the first 
full-time director of the State 
Appellate Defender Office. 
Afterward, he established a 
26-year career as a criminal 
appellate attorney.
“Art Tarnow was the No. 1 
criminal appellate attorney 
in the state of Michigan,” 
Fishman said. In 1998, 
Tarnow began a 24-year 
tenure on Detroit’s federal 
bench after being appointed 
by President Bill Clinton.
“I think Art was born 
to be a conflict-resolution 
person,” Jackie Tarnow 
said. “He was born to bring 
people together, to settle 
things in peaceful ways.”
Fishman noted Judge 
Tarnow’s tremendous 
intellect and added, “He was 
a great judge who treated 
everyone who came before 
him fairly and equally.”
Fishman said the judge 
was also very helpful to 
up-and-coming lawyers.

“Art Tarnow did not 
believe in waxing eloquent,” 
Fishman said. “He got right 
to the point. There’s a lesson 
in there for young lawyers 
— say what you have to 
say and be done. Art was a 
practitioner of that.”
Judge Tarnow had a 
positive, ongoing sense of 
humor, his wife said. “He used 
it everywhere to relax people.
“In court, when someone 
was speaking on and on, he 
would say, ‘Excuse me, please, 
you are ‘alligating’ — because 
when an alligator opens its 
mouth, its ears close.”
Besides being a resident of 
Detroit, Judge Tarnow was a 
man of the world. He trav-
eled extensively as a young 
man and, early in his career, 
taught at law schools in 
Melbourne, Austrailia, and 
Papua, New Guinea. After he 
had a family, they traveled 
when possible and hosted 
a dozen exchange students, 
several of them Jewish, from 
Brazil, Europe and Japan.
“Art would talk to our sons 
about Maimonides, about 
the values of integrity and 
ethics,” his wife said. “He was 
secular, but very spiritual in 
the way he lived his life.”
 
HIGH HONORS
Judge Tarnow’s career was 
much appreciated. In 2018, 
after serving on the bench 
for 20 years, he was feted at a 
ceremony where his courtroom 
portrait was unveiled. He was 
acclaimed in speeches by his 
successor, Judge Terrence 
Berg, and by his former 
mentor, Sen. Carl Levin.
“It was wonderful — Art 

got to hear people praise and 
celebrate him,
” said sister-in-
law Kathy Tarnow.
Asked that year how he 
would like to be remembered, 
Judge Tarnow said, “Being 
a public servant with great 
power is a large responsibility. 
It requires patience, the 
ability to listen to the parties, 
lawyers and law clerks — and 
a sense of fairness.” 
Judge Arthur Tarnow is 
survived by his wife, Jackie; 
sons and daughters-in-law, 
Thomas and Andrea, and 
Andrew and Vita; brother 
and sister-in-law, Robert and 
Kathy Tarnow; sister, Adrienne 
Goldbaum; and grandchildren, 
Lucien and Julia.
He was the son of the 
late Nate and the late Rose 
Ginsburg Tarnow.
For those who wish to 
honor his memory, his wife 
notes that Judge Tarnow 
would say, “Find someone 
who needs help or an 
organization that you feel 
helps people and take care of 
other people and their needs.”
Depending on the course 
of the pandemic, the family 
hopes to conduct a memorial 
gathering this summer. 

Judging with ‘Rachmones’ — Compassion

JN STAFF

Judge Arthur Tarnow