S. Arthur Spiegel, 94, Was Known For Civil Rights Support, Sending Pete Rose To Prison

CINCINNATI (AP) - S. Arthur Spiegel, a longtime federal judge known for his support of civil rights and for sending baseball star Pete Rose to prison, has died. He was 94.

Diane Wykoff, his judicial assistant for his 34 years on the federal bench, confirmed Friday that Spiegel died Wednesday in Cincinnati. Other details weren't available immediately.

Spiegel was appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 and took senior status in 1995, keeping up a busy docket in the years after. He had earned degrees from the University of Cincinnati and Harvard Law School and served as a Marine in combat duty the Pacific campaign during World War II.

Spiegel sentenced Rose, the Cincinnati native also banned from Major League Baseball for betting on baseball, to prison for five months in 1990 for tax evasion stemming from unreported income from gambling, baseball memorabilia sales and autograph appearances. Among other prominent rulings, he rejected an anti-gay rights initiative in Cincinnati and oversaw a settlement involving a former uranium processing plant near Cincinnati. Last September, he ruled that voters arrested and jailed the weekend before Election Day must be given a chance to cast an absentee ballot.

From his early days as an attorney in Cincinnati, Spiegel urged support of civil rights, and he served as chairman of the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission in the 1960s. He and his wife, Louise, last year were inducted into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame. He, in recent years, was active in efforts to broaden opportunities for minorities in the legal profession.

"People should be judged on what they've accomplished and who they are, not on the accident of their birth," Spiegel told The Cincinnati Enquirer for a story published in 2009.

Services for Spiegel will be Monday at Isaac M. Wise Temple in Cincinnati. He is survived by his wife and their four sons.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.