Former U.S. Attorney passes away after cancer battle

Attorney James Francis Companion has passed away after a battle with cancer.

Companion was born July 29, 1941, in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, and moved to Wheeling, West Virginia as a child. He would later become well-known in the Ohio Valley for his many accomplishments as an attorney.

Companion graduated with honors from the University of Michigan Law School in 1966. He returned to Wheeling to practice law. Companion served in the West Virginia House of Delegates from 1969-1970 and served in the U.S. Army Reserves as a First Lieutenant from 1967-1972. He was also the United States Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia from 1973-1976. He spent the next decades at a firm that became known as Schrader, Companion, Duff & Law.

Those who knew Companion say he almost never missed a day of work prior to his cancer diagnosis. He’s also remembered for zealously representing many clients pro bono. Companion was 83.

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