U.S. District Court Judge G. Thomas VanBebber died Thursday. He was 73.

“He was an indomitable spirit : a wonderful judge,” said Steve McAllister, dean of the Kansas University School of Law.

VanBebber, who lived in Overland Park, called in sick Wednesday.

“He died peacefully in his sleep, sometime between 6 and 6:30 a.m.,” said Ralph DeLoach, clerk/administrator for the U.S. District Court of Kansas.

“He was respected not only by his peers, but by all court staff who worked for him – highly respected,” DeLoach said.

VanBebber was perhaps best known for sentencing Michael Fortier, a key witness for the prosecution in the Oklahoma City bombing trial that led to convictions of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.

Fortier admitted knowing about the plot to bomb the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and choosing not to warn authorities.

VanBebber sentenced Fortier to 12 years in prison and ordered him to pay $200,000 in fines.

Fortier’s attorneys appealed the sentence, arguing it was excessive given his cooperation with prosecutors. A federal appeals court upheld the sentence.

Other VanBebber rulings:

¢ 1997 – Issued an injunction halting work on the proposed South Lawrence Trafficway until after completion of an environmental impact statement.

¢ 1999 – Denied the Rev. Fred Phelps’ attempt to sue Shawnee County Dist. Atty. Joan Hamilton for allegedly prosecuting him in an attempt to limit his anti-homosexual picketing.

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¢ 2004 – Denied an attempt to force Washburn University to remove a statue from campus that some considered anti-Catholic.

The sculpture, entitled “Holier Than Thou,” depicted a scowling, heavyset clergyman wearing ceremonial headgear that some said was shaped like a penis.

“The court cannot conclude that a reasonable observer would perceive the university’s display of ‘Holier Than Thou’ as an attack on Catholics,” VanBebber wrote in his ruling.

VanBebber grew up in Troy, Kan. (population 1,000). He earned a bachelor’s degree from Kansas University in 1953; a law degree in 1955. In 2001, he received the KU Law Society’s distinguished alumnus award.

He practiced law in Troy until 1959, when he became an assistant U.S. attorney. He returned to private practice in Troy in 1961, serving as Doniphan County attorney from 1963 to 1969. He was elected to the Kansas House, serving one term from 1973 to 1975.

He served on the Kansas Corporation Commission, from 1975 to 1979.

VanBebber was appointed a federal magistrate in 1982. Seven years later, he was appointed to the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush.

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

“He was a wonderful judge and an even better person,” said U.S. Chief Judge John W. Lungstrum, who lives in Lawrence.

“He was a great student of history and literature,” he said. “He had a tendency to relate to anecdotes and people he knew while growing up in Troy – I say that not to imply that he was homespun in character; I say it because he related to small-town values in a way that brought a lot of wisdom and common sense to the bench. He was truly brilliant.”

Lungstrum succeeded VanBebber as the federal court’s chief judge in Kansas.

As a child, VanBebber contracted polio and often relied on crutches and, in recent years, a wheelchair.

“He was in pain every day, but he never let on that there was a problem,” Lungstrum said. “His courage and stoicism were tremendously inspirational to the court.”

VanBebber is survived by his wife, Alleen, an attorney.

The funeral service will be at 3 p.m. Wednesday at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Prairie Village.