Judge R. Russell “Russ” Sadler, a lawyer whose improbable career path eventually led to a Howard County judgeship, died July 5 of heart failure at his Ellicott City home. He was 97.
“All the good things you can say about a judge apply to Russ,” said former Chief Judge of the District Court James N. Vaughan. “He was well-respected, well-liked and was very serious about his job and both patient and understanding.”
Retired Howard County Circuit Court Judge Louis A. Becker III was both a friend and colleague.
“He was a solid guy, fairly quiet, and very well-read and who had led a most interesting life,” Judge Becker said. “Russ wasn’t a bon vivant, but kind of the silent type.”
Raymond Russell Sadler, son of Dlanchard Sadler, a steelworker, and Edna Sadler, a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised on McElderry Street near Patterson Park.
Judge Sadler was an indifferent student at Patterson Park High School, where he flunked physical education as a sophomore.
In an interview with The Baltimore Sun in 1980, Judge Sadler said he “grew up in a concrete environment” of East Monument, which he described as a “white ghetto,” as a member of a neighborhood gang.
“We used to hook class, shoot craps in the alleys and spend our lunch money on burlesque shows,” he said.
After punching a fellow student, Judge Sadler dropped out of high school.
“It was during World War II, and he went to the Navy recruiting station, lied about his age, and had a neighbor sign for him and joined to Navy,” said his wife of 44 years, the former Patricia Elero, a retired bank executive and adjunct professor of business at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
While serving in the Navy as an electrician’s mate from 1943 until being discharged in 1946, he earned his GED.
After being discharged from the Navy, he returned to Baltimore and went to work for the old Pennsylvania Railroad.
“It was during steam days when locomotives would have to have their wheels removed and rims replaced,” Judge Vaughan said.
“After two weeks, he said, ‘To hell with that,’ and went down and joined the U.S. Merchant Marine,” his wife said. “He always said he got his ‘ticket punched,’ when he joined the Merchant Marine.”
After sailing across the world, he left the sea and enrolled at the University of Baltimore where he earned an associate’s degree in 1953, and law degree with honors two years later.
He then worked as a divisional claims superintendent for an insurance company and then seven years as a Baltimore police officer.
Judge Sadler then established a personal injury law practice and in 1970 was appointed to the Howard County Appellate Tax Court, a position he held for two years.
He also ran unsuccessfully that year as a Democrat for a seat on the Howard County Council and later the House of Delegates.
From 1972 to 1974, he was assistant Howard County solicitor and deputy county solicitor from 1974 to 1980.
Judge Sadler was the Howard County Council’s executive secretary from 1979 to 1980, when he was appointed to the Howard County District Court by Gov. Harry R. Hughes.
During his investiture, Judge Sadler told The Sun becoming a judge was the “furthest thing from my mind. It was a fantasy I never thought would come true.”
At the time, the former gym teacher, Philip J. Aaronson, who had flunked him, sent a congratulatory telegram whose message jokingly said: “No one should sit in judgment of others, who failed gym.”
“As a judge, he came off as a solid Gary Cooper type of guy,” Judge Becker said. “He was tough on criminal cases having been a city cop, He was energetic but took his time in writing opinions in complicated cases which can be tough in District Court because of the volume of cases.”
In sentencing an 18-year-old Ellicott City man for vehicular manslaughter — in what The Sun reported “was thought to be the first sentence of its kind in the state” — Judge Sadler ordered the man to speak to students about the dangers of drunken driving as a condition of the plea agreement.
“He was the kind of person who would not initiate a conversation, but if you engaged him, he was effective, plus he had a wonderful laugh,” retired Howard County Circuit Court Judge Lenore R. Gelfman said.
He retired in 1996, but spent the next 15 years working as a recall judge hearing cases around the state.
He was a member of the Howard County Bar Association and the Heuisler Honor Society.
Mrs. Sadler said that when it came to doing things around the house her husband was ham-handed, especially when she asked him to install several electrical outlets, which he claimed he could do.
“He emulated his brother Frank, who was a Westinghouse electrician and could fix anything. He was jealous of him,” she said. “Frank had to come and fix what Russ had installed which was all wrong, and I remember him saying, ‘Goddamn, it’s a wonder we won the war with Russ.'”
Judge Sadler enjoyed spending time at a second home on Deale Island, reading and following politics.
It was Judge Sadler’s wish to be buried at sea.
“He loved the sea,” his wife said.
Plans for a celebration of life gathering to be held this fall are incomplete.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by a stepdaughter, Holly Slingsby of Canton.
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