As much as I opposed him philosophically, he is an amazing jurist and perhaps one of the most durable.
On Monday he shifted to inactive Senior Status, meaning that he will no longer hear cases or participate in the business of the court, though he may still participate in a purely administrative capacity with the court.
Amazingly, until the moment of his retirement on Monday, he held down a 100% caseload, even though he is 98 years old.
Even more amazingly is that he has held that caseload during a tenure of nearly 53 years.
Jack, enjoy your retirement, at least as much of it as you are likely to have at age 98.
The outer soles of his shoes were held in place with ■■■■■■■ nails as a kid. Do his staff members perform hourly checks on him in his office? Holy crap.
The thing is we never really know how long we might live. A lot of it is hard coded in your genes. I have seen people, including many of my extended family on my mom’s side, drink, smoke, eat red meat, etc every day and live into their 80’s and 90’s. On the other hand, people exercise and eat healthy and die in their late 60’s and 70’s.
This is one of the reasons it is such a fascinating subject.
The difference between living to 50 and 100 is an entire extra lifetime. Something worth striving for, even if lifestyle cannot always get you there. Sometimes the HOPE is worth the effort.
One of my longevity champions is Jack Lalaine who made it to 96 and was fit as fit could be until he made the mistake of not seeking medical help for pneumonia…at 96.
