Brownsville native, federal judge, dies unexpectedly
Brownsville native Gary L. Lancaster, the first black chief U.S. district justice for the Western District of Pennsylvania, died Wednesday evening at his home in Pittsburgh.
Lancaster was found unresponsive by his son. According to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office, Lancaster died of natural causes, the result of hypertensive heart disease. An autopsy was conducted Thursday.
Lancaster was a 1967 graduate of Brownsville Area High School and a graduate of Slippery Rock University, receiving his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh.
He was appointed as a federal magistrate judge in 1987 and was nominated for a district judgeship by President Bill Clinton and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 1993. Lancaster was elevated to the position of chief judge in September 2009.
In a 2010 interview with the Herald-Standard, Lancaster said he went away to college intent on becoming a high school basketball coach.
“That was the ’60s and a lot of things were changing. The civil rights movement was at it’s peak,” Lancaster said. “Suddenly, dribbling a basketball became less important. I wanted to be part of it and I thought being a lawyer would be the best way to do that.”
Uniontown attorney Sam Davis went to high school with Lancaster and the two were close friends.
“Gary Lancaster was one of those people in school you knew was going to excel and he certainly did,” Davis said. “Gary was an outstanding trial attorney and chief judge is an accomplishment in anyone’s book.”
“It was a pleasure to try cases against him and it was an honor to try cases in his courtroom. He brought honor to Fayette County,” Davis said.
Paul Lancaster of Hiller said his brother was dedicated to the law, his family and his church.
“He was very dedicated to his craft. He loved the law. He always said it was his mistress and he believed fervently in the law. He was very family oriented and loved his family. He kept our church in his heart and helped out whenever he could,” Paul Lancaster said.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete Thursday, though Paul Lancaster said it was likely that services would be held at the family church, Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church in Brownsville.
As chief judge, Lancaster handled cases including the civil rights cases following G-20 protests in Pittsburgh in 2009. He was also involved with the appeal of a death sentence for Scott Wayne Blystone of Fairchance in 2012. Most recently he dismissed the appeal of Dylan Ryan Johnson of Greene County who was fighting extradition to Mexico on homicide charges, saying the United States no longer had jurisdiction in the case.
Lancaster was known for his no-nonsense demeanor.
“Judges watch what other judges do and he was fair and decent and he treated people with respect. He was the Walter Payton (late NFL star) of the federal bench — he was tough, but he was a sweet guy,” said Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Manning.