U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Van Bebber died peacefully in his sleep this morning at his home in the Kansas City area suburb of Prairie Village, his office confirmed today. He was 73.

“He was a wonderful, esteemed, intelligent and competent jurist,” said Ralph DeLoach, clerk/administrator for the U.S. District Court for the State of Kansas. “He was a respected not only by his peers, but all court staff who worked for him – highly respected.”

Van Bebber was probably most well-known nationally for sentencing Michael Fortier, the key witness for the prosecution in the Oklahoma City bombing trial that led to the convictions of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.

Van Bebber has been on the federal bench for more than 15 years.

He was nominated by former President George H.W. Bush on Sept. 13, 1989, to a seat vacated by Richard D. Rogers. He was confirmed by the Senate on Nov. 21, 1989, and was commissioned on Dec. 8, 1989.

He served as a chief judge from 1995 to 2000. He assumed senior status on Dec. 31, 2000.

Van Bebber received a bachelor’s degree from Kansas University in 1953 and a law degree from KU in 1955.

He began his professional career in Troy, Kan., where he was in private practice from 1955 to 1959.

He served as an assistant U.S. attorney, District of Kansas, from 1959 to 1961. He then returned to private practice Troy from 1961 to 1982.

From 1963 to 1969, he served as county attorney for Doniphan County.

He was also elected to the Kansas Legislature, where he served in the Kansas House from 1973 to 1975.

In 1982, he was appointed as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the District of Kansas, where he served until 1989.