CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio — *Editor's Note: The video in the player above is from a previous report.
The Northeast Ohio legal community is mourning the passing of longtime Judge Nancy McDonnell.
According to a press release issued by the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, McDonnell passed away with her husband, John Kosko, at her side on Tuesday afternoon.
Judge McDonnell, a Cleveland native, joined the Bench in 1997. Prior to that milestone, she served as an Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor in the Major Trial Division and was a Magistrate in the Lakewood Municipal Court.
Most recently, she presided over drug court proceedings, however her contributions to the Northeast Ohio legal community are widely recognized.
“Judge McDonnell was, quite simply, one of the strongest persons I have ever known,” says current Administrative and Presiding Judge Brendan J. Sheehan. “This is a sad day for our Court and Judge Nancy McDonnell’s extended personal and professional family. However, we, and the citizens of Cuyahoga County, were fortunate to have had her on our Bench and in our lives.”
McDonnell served as the Court’s first female Administrative and Presiding Judge from 2006-2009.
"Her nearly 25 years on the Bench were distinguished, and she brought compassion and caring to her role as a Judge," the press release wrote.
In 2011, the McDonnell Center Community Based Correctional Facility was dedicated in her name.
Her cause of death has not yet been disclosed at this time. However, it is known that McDonnell was the recipient of a double lung transplant in 2009.
Judge McDonnell was alumni of Regina High School in South Euclid, The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.
*Editor's Note: The video in the player above is from a previous report.