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Roland Day, a former chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court known for his keen sense of humor, his commitment to public service and his devotion to his family, died unexpectedly Saturday.
Day was at Oakwood Village recuperating from a fractured pelvis he suffered as he was about to take a step down stairs on June 11, his 89th birthday, said his daughter, Sarah Day.
"I was very much a daddy's girl," she said, crediting her father's recitations of the Gettysburg Address and Will Rogers routines he performed since he was 4 years old with influencing her own acting career with the America Players Theatre in Spring Green.
"He relished the law," she said of Day, who was the first assistant district attorney in Dane County and served as legal counsel to Sen. William Proxmire in Washington, D.C., before returning to Madison to practice law.
"He felt he was able to do good for people," she said, adding that public service was important to Day.
And, she said, his quick wit "could sure get a point across."
"He had a great sense of humor," said Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, who succeeded Day as chief justice when he retired in 1996, a year after assuming the court's leadership.
"When he became the chief, he said, I'm going to be chief for a year. You're going to be chief for a long time.'"
Day worked with Abrahamson to put lasting programs in place, saying, "It gives you a leg up and it makes my year useful," she said.
"He absolutely adored his wife, Mary Jane," Abrahamson said, adding that he was one of his daughter's biggest fans. "He just was a devoted husband and a devoted father."
"He was a very good friend over a long period of time," said former Gov. Patrick Lucey, who appointed Day to the state Board of Regents and in 1974 to the Supreme Court, where "he was held in high regard both by those who agreed with him and those who often did not."
Lucey recalled joking at a press conference about his reason for naming Day to the high court, saying, "I wanted to appoint a Norwegian lawyer with a sense of humor, and he was the only one I could find."
In 1954, when Day was supporting Proxmire and Lucey was supporting Jim Doyle Sr. in the Democratic primary for governor, the two would share rides to debate one another, then ride home together peacefully.
"In those days, there wasn't a lot of money for politics," Lucey said. "Politics were a lot different then than they are now."
A funeral service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday at Cress Funeral Home, 3610 Speedway Road, with visitation starting at 11 a.m.
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