Swietlik comfortable in robes of a judge
Unflappable jurist had law in his blood
Posted: April 22, 2005
Former Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Walter J. Swietlik
was a man who was "born to be a judge" but who found his
greatest joy in his family and the 25 wooded acres near
Fredonia on which he and his wife, Barbara, lived for the
past 25 years.
Swietlik died Thursday of pancreatic cancer. He was 70.
Swietlik presided as an Ozaukee County circuit judge for
23 years before stepping down in February 2002. He was
appointed to the bench in 1978 by then-acting Gov. Martin
Schreiber after having worked in private practice and
serving eight years as Ozaukee County district attorney. He
was first elected to the bench in 1979.
Swietlik's son, Walt Swietlik Jr., called the 25 acres
his father's "pride and joy."
"He and my mother bought it as raw acreage 25 years ago,
built their home on it and developed it as a family piece of
land," he said.
It was a place where he spent many hours with his
grandchildren planting trees, as many as 50 each year, his
son said.
"Every spring we'd come out and plant trees. Pines,
maples, oaks. He didn't have any landscape training. He just
planted them," Walt Swietlik said. "He was a city boy
growing up and it was kind of a whole new adventure for him,
the outdoors and all that."
Swietlik was born in Milwaukee on April 20, 1935, to
Francis and Marie Czerwinski Swietlik. He attended Marquette
University High School and married Barbara Burbach on July
11, 1959, in Milwaukee. That was a year before he graduated
from Marquette University Law School.
With job offers in both Milwaukee and Port Washington,
the couple chose to move north to Ozaukee County.
"We reasoned that if I took the job in Port Washington
and we didn't like it, we could always move back to
Milwaukee. We stayed. Port Washington was a fine place to
raise a family," Swietlik said in a 2002 interview with the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Ties to legal community
Swietlik had strong ties to Milwaukee and the legal
community.
His father, Francis X. Swietlik, was a 1914 graduate of
Marquette Law School, the law school's dean from 1935 to
1953 and then a Milwaukee County judge from 1953 until 1959.
The senior Swietlik then served as a reserve judge for 10
more years, taught at the law school and maintained a
private practice well into the 1970s.
After working as a lawyer in Port Washington for two
years, Swietlik ran for Ozaukee County district attorney and
was elected as the county's first full-time district
attorney at age 27.
He served in that post until 1971, when he resigned to go
into private practice as a partner with Levy & Levy law
offices in Cedarburg. He remained at Levy & Levy until he
was appointed to the bench.
Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Joseph D. McCormack first
met Swietlik 33 years ago when McCormack was a new assistant
district attorney in Ozaukee County and Swietlik was in
private practice at Levy & Levy. McCormack joined Swietlik
on the bench in 1979.
"He was born to be a judge," McCormack said. "He seemed
to have a knack for the demeanor and scholarship that you
need as a judge. A lot of lawyers have trouble making the
transition from being an advocate to being a peacemaker and
mediator. He came on the job having that ability."
Swietlik was assigned to mentor Ozaukee County Circuit
Judge Tom R. Wolfgram when Wolfgram joined the bench in the
mid-1990s.
"Walter had a wonderful, calm, virtually unflappable
demeanor in the courtroom," said Wolfgram, who first met
Swietlik when he too was an assistant district attorney in
Ozaukee County. "Walter was one of the finest gentlemen I
ever met."
Swietlik was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer in
November.
"He fought it every way he could," his son said. "He
tried every treatment the doctors recommended and went to
the Mayo Clinic (in Rochester, Minn.). But the last couple
weeks it got the best of him."
Besides his wife, Barbara, Swietlik is survived by his
children, Walt Swietlik Jr. of Cedarburg, Susan Bermeo of
Ecuador, Sally Payne of Kansas City, Michael Swietlik of
Cedarburg; nine grandchildren; two brothers, Frank Swietlik
of Brookfield and John Swietlik of Mequon; and two sisters,
Dorothy Puchner of Menomonee Falls and Marie Swietlik of
Mequon. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10
a.m. Monday at Holy Rosary Parish at Holy Cross, 5330
Highway B in the Town of Belgium. Burial will be at St.
Mary's Cemetery, Port Washington.
Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Eernisse
Funeral Home, 1600 W. Grand Ave., Port Washington.
The family suggested memorials to Marquette University
High School, Borja Jesuit High School in Ecuador or a
charity of the donor's choice.
From the April 23, 2005, editions of the Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel 