FARGO – Lawrence Leclerc, a Fargo native who served 25 years as an East Central District judge, died Sunday. He was 80.
The Forum received the death notice from Boulger Funeral Home.
Appointed by former North Dakota Gov. Art Link in 1979, Leclerc had a reputation as a caring judge who didn’t mince words on the bench.
“I’ve been called impatient,” he told a Forum reporter in 2004, when he retired at the age of 70.
He’s also been called a no-nonsense judge who “genuinely cared about ordinary people that were involved in his cases,” Fargo defense attorney Monty Mertz once said.
Leclerc was born in Fargo in 1934 and graduated from Shanley High School. He earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of North Dakota, an education that he halted periodically to work various jobs.
After high school, he helped his father, Larry Sr., open a service station at 701 Broadway. He also worked in the FBI as an identification technician and in the Army as a military police officer from 1953 to 1956. Before his judgeship, Leclerc spent 13 years in private practice in Fargo, focusing on areas of civil law.
Leclerc’s wife, Kathryn Leclerc, died three years ago. The couple was married for 53 years. They had three daughters and a son.
Leclerc’s funeral mass is set for 1 p.m. Friday at Nativity Catholic Church, with a gathering one hour prior.
