A 37-year veteran of the Milwaukee judiciary system and third-generation Wisconsinite, the Honorable David Vincent Jennings Jr., 89, died of natural causes Aug. 3 at Avow Hospice in Naples, Fla. Former resident of River Hills.

Judge Jennings was born Feb. 10, 1921, in Milwaukee to David and Mary Jennings. He graduated from Marquette University High School in 1939, and from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., in 1943. That year he joined the U.S. Navy and served as an officer in World War II in the Pacific and remained active in the Navy Reserve until 1981.

He married his first wife, Mary Bergen Johnston, also of Milwaukee, in 1946 and received a law degree from Marquette University Law School in 1948. He was a partner in the firms of Spence & Jennings, and Sullivan, Wedemeyer & Jennings until his appointment to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court in 1966, where he presided as judge and reserve judge until his retirement in 2002. Parents of 11 children who were born and raised in Milwaukee, Judge Jennings and the late Mary Jennings divorced in 1974. He and Margaret wed in 1985.

A dedicated volunteer at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and Naples Community Hospital, he was an avid supporter of his alma maters.

In addition to his wife, those surviving the judge include his children Maureen (John) Oster, David Jennings III, Kathleen (Stewart) Friend, Sheila Jennings, Robert (Christina) Jennings; Ellen (John) Murphy, Therese, (John) Vreeland, Stephen Jennings, Colleen (Peter) Grant, Janet (Chris) Sauer, Bridget (Jean-Marc) Dumont; 21 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; two brothers, Leander (Susie) Jennings, and Phillip (Kathleen) Jennings, and a sister, Helen Reilly.  He was preceded in death by a brother, John Jennings, and his sister, Congregation of Our Lady of the Retreat in the Cenacle Sr. Mary Jennings.

Memorials in the judge’s name may be made to Marquette University High School, 3401 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53233.

---