Retired 21st JDC Judge Leon Ford III, 74, died Sunday, January 18, 2004. He earned his undergraduate degree from Southeastern Louisiana University in 1951 and his Juris Doctor degree from Louisiana State University Law School in 1952. He entered the U.S. Air Force in 1952 and served in Korea as Staff Judge Advocate of 8th Fighter-Bomber Wing. He was first elected to City Court of Hammond in 1966 and was reelected without opposition in 1972, serving there until his election to the 21st JDC bench in 1974. He was appointed by the Supreme Court to serve on the Committee that established the Louisiana Judicial College, after which he served as vice-chairman of the new Board of the Louisiana Judicial College. He was a member of the Committee that drafted the new Code of Ethics for the Louisiana Judiciary and served on the Judicial Council of the Supreme Court for six years. He served as President of the Louisiana Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and was an instructor of Criminal Law and Criminal Evidence at Southeastern Louisiana University. He retired from the 21st JDC in 1990.