`Judge Albert E. Acker dies`

By Denise Kadilak
and Dala Barrow
Herald Staff Writers

Longtime Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Albert Ellsworth Acker died at 4:27 p.m. Wednesday (1-7-98) in John XXIII Home, Hermitage. He was 72.

Judge Acker, 656 Carley Ave., Sharon, was remembered by his colleagues and friends as a generously warm, intelligent, hard-working neighbor.

``He was recognized throughout the Commonwealth as one of the leading trial judges,'' said Acker's lifelong friend and one-time law partner, Donald R. McKay. Acker's appointment to the Civil Procedural Rules Committee of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was, ``The ultimate compliment for a trial judge,'' McKay said.

McKay said he will remember fondly the years he spent with Acker working together in Boy Scouts and college and as lawyers. The two began their careers sharing a small office in McKay's father's law firm, Brockway, McKay, and Brockway, Sharon. But, by 1956, the two had started their own firm, Cusick, Madden, Joyce, Acker and McKay in Sharon, McKay said.

Active with the Boy Scouts, Judge Acker was a committee member and chairman of Troop 3, sponsored by First Presbyterian Church, Sharon. He belonged to the executive board of French Creek Council and its committees and was honored by the council in 1980 with the Silver Beaver Award, the highest honor in Scouting for outstanding volunteer service to youth.

Acker remained in private law practice until Jan. 1, 1968, when he accepted a gubernatorial appointment to fill the unexpired term of McKay's late father, Mercer County Judge Leo H. McKay.

McKay accompanied Acker to Harrisburg to accept the appointment.

``I guess as a friend, what attracted me to him was his total honesty,'' McKay said.

Retired Mercer County Common Pleas Judge John Q. Stranahan said, ``I think he was one of the finest common pleas judges in the state. He handled many big cases, not just in the county but in the Commonwealth.'' Stranahan also described his friend as ``a scholar'' and credited Acker's consideration of others and his hard worker for his success.

Paul Horn, retired editorial writer for The Herald, said of his friend, ``He was a good and great man privately, and he was a good and great man as a judge.'' Horn singled out Acker's ``impeccable knowledge of the law'' as making him an outstanding judge.

On a personal level, Horn said his next-door neighbor was always willing to take on any job. ``He was a very hard worker. ... I'm sorry he is gone. We have lost a great man.''

In his 23 years on the bench, Acker earned the respect of the local trial attorneys, according to lawyer Anna Belle Jones. ``Mercer County lawyers were accustomed to him being totally prepared when entering the courtroom. ... He was respected by all that knew him and this was true of lawyers even when he ruled against them.'' Ms. Jones, who admitted to losing a case or two before Acker, said she most respected his desire to treat everyone fairly.

Common Pleas President Judge Francis J. Fornelli recognized his mentor as, ``A judge and a man of great integrity. He loved the law and had a great sense of fairness and justice. He was a great judge; he was a great family man; he was a great man. He cannot be replaced in the community.''

Judge Acker was born July 25, 1925, in Sharon to Dr. Kemp G. and Leah Mitchell Acker.

He graduated from Sharon High School in 1943 as president of his class and was the youngest Boy Scout in Mercer County's history to earn to the Eagle Scout badge.

During his senior year in high school, Judge Acker attended Allegheny College in Meadville under a study acceleration program.

A 1950 graduate of the Dickinson School of Law, Carlisle, Pa., he served as a member of the Law Review and as legal clerk for a professor and practicing lawyer there.

In 1968 he attended National Judicial College at the University of North Carolina, and took an advanced session in 1972 in Reno, Nev.

He served in the Army as a second lieutenant in an infantry rifle platoon during World War II. He was recalled as a combat platoon leader during the Korean conflict and was assigned as defense counsel for officers and enlistees in Germany.

He was discharged in 1952 and then began practicing law. Acker remained on the bench until he retired Oct. 6, 1991.

He was a member of the Pennsylvania and Mercer County Bar associations; the American Judicature Society; and the Pennsylvania State Trial Judges Association.

He was appointed to a 10-year term on the Juvenile Court Judges Commission, based on a recommendation from the Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Mr. Acker was president of the Mercer County Prison Board for 13 years and of the Mercer County Juvenile Court Center, which he was instrumental in building.

He taught a Pennsylvania State University Extension Course in commercial law and negotiable instruments to members of the local chapter of the American Banking Institute. He also taught new judges at the Pennsylvania College of the Judiciary and at Pennsylvania State Trial Judges conferences.

He was a member of First Presbyterian Church, Sharon, where he served as a deacon, Sunday school teacher and trustee board member and president.

He was a member of Free and Accepted Masons Lodge 250; Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks Lodge 103; Buhl Trustees; and the advisory board of Shenango Campus of Pennsylvania State University, all Sharon.

In 1981, Thiel College gave him an honorary doctorate.

In 1994, Mercer County dedicated the Albert E. Acker Building on U.S. Route 62 near Mercer in his honor. The Acker building houses Mental Health/Mental Retardation and Children and Youth Services.

Surviving are: his wife, the former Helen ``Honey'' Cartwright, whom he married April 14, 1951; a daughter, Mrs. Scott (Mary Holland ``Holly'') Sheeser, Olean, N.Y.; four sons, lawyers David B. and Alan M., both Coudersport, Pa.; Peter C., Mercer; and Andrew Y., Buffalo Grove, Ill.; a brother, lawyer William M. Acker, Pittsburgh; and 11 grandchildren.

Contributions may be made to the Albert E. Acker Memorial Fund in care of the Buhl Farm Trustees, Box 709, 730 Forker Blvd., Sharon 16146.

ACKER

Albert E., 72, of 656 Carley Ave., Sharon.

Service: Memorial service at 3 p.m. Saturday (1-10-98) in First Presbyterian Church, Sharon, with the Rev. Donald P. Wilson, pastor of the Lebanon Presbyterian Church, Lackawannock Township, officiating. Family will receive friends in the fellowship hall of the church immediately following the service.

Burial: Private in Oakwood Cemetery, Hermitage.

Arrangements by J. BRADLEY McGONIGLE FUNERAL HOME Inc., 1090 E. State St., Sharon.

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Updated Jan. 8, 1998
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