MELLOY. Michael

MELLOY, Michael. Michael J. Melloy, (Dubuque, IA--Jan. 15, 1948--Coralville, IA, October 20, 2026), The oldest of five children of Bill and Pat Melloy. Michael enjoyed a 1950s childhood of Little League, Allison Henderson Park pool, summer farm stays, bike races, nighttime street games, and holidays with cousins.

Mike graduated from WAHLERT CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL in 1966 and LORAS COLLEGE in 1970, then enlisted in the U.S. Army. After his service, Mike attended the University of Iowa College of Law, graduating with high distinction in 1974. He began his legal career at O’Connor & Thomas in Dubuque, where he later became a partner. He met the love of his life, Jane Anne Knapp and they married on December 27, 1975, and raised three daughters: Jennie, Kate, and Bridget.

In 1986, Mike and Jane Anne moved to Cedar Rapids, where he began a 38-year career as a federal judge. He started as a bankruptcy judge in the Northern District of Iowa, where he served families and farms through the hardest years of Iowa’s farm crisis. In 1992, George H.W. Bush nominated him to the U.S. District Court, where he served until 2002, during which time he was chief judge. In 2002, George W. Bush nominated him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, where he served until 2024. In his final years on the bench, the U.S. Supreme Court appointed him special master in a dispute between Texas and New Mexico over water rights to the Rio Grande.

Among the great joys of his career was mentoring dozens of law clerks. “A judge is only as good as his law clerks,” he often said, and he had a knack for choosing great ones. He taught them how to practice law, but even more, how to be good people. Many arrived as clerks and stayed as family, carrying his lessons into their careers, their families, and the way they treated others.

For more than fifty years, Mike and Jane Anne were equals in every measure. Mike and Jane Anne set out to see the world together, from Russia to Thailand to Italy to Turkey, guided by curiosity and a sense of adventure. At home, he loved to cook, was a voracious reader, and was a devoted player of Settlers of Catan. He loved any opportunity to be with people. He relished a party, a family wedding, lunch with a former law clerk, his Saturday breakfast group, and Sunday dinners.

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Source:

Dubuque Today