Originally Posted by preesi

Judge Lisa A. Richette (1928-2007)

A performer on the big stage

Reading tributes to retired Philadelphia Judge Lisa A. Richette, who died Friday of lung cancer, it comes as no surprise to learn she was stage-struck as a tap-dancing youngster and, throughout her later years, loved the theater and attended opera regularly. That's because Richette lived as if on a stage. She created a larger-than-life presence in Philadelphia legal and political circles. Hers was a real-life drama of many acts, punctuated by tragi-comic moments, pathos and the occasional histrionics.
Almost from the time she distinguished herself by earning her Yale law degree, Richette was a trailblazer for women's rights, children in troubled homes, the mentally ill (she also suffered from depression), and the homeless. In court, she showed compassion, was pilloried famously for it by former Mayor Frank L. Rizzo, but stuck to her guns.
It's unfortunate that Richette came to be best known in later years for her own brushes with trouble - as a victim of two robberies, an assault, and her recent injury in a family dispute. Then again, even these encounters distinguished Richette from the ordinary.