John J. Rufe, retired Bucks County judge and community leader, has died at 83
He served on the bench for three decades. “Judge Rufe will hold a place in the hearts of all those who worked in the system,” colleagues at the Bucks County Bar Association said in a tribute.
John J. Rufe, 83, of Newtown, Bucks County, retired judge in the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County, former assistant district attorney, longtime lawyer, and community leader, died Saturday, Nov. 18, of complications from Parkinson’s disease at Friends Nursing Home at Chandler Hall in Newtown.
A lifelong resident of Bucks County, Judge Rufe was appointed to the county bench in 1989 by Gov. Robert P. Casey. He was elected to a 10-year term in 1991, retained for another term in 2001, and presided over thousands of criminal, civil, domestic, and dependency cases until his retirement as senior judge in 2018.
He oversaw much of the county’s complex and unprecedented asbestos liability litigation in the 1990s. He ruled in 1993 that a man owed 34 years of unpaid child support and in 2000 that Bucks County farms were not unused land subject to unchecked development.
He helped establish the Bucks County Drug Court in 2010 that encouraged recovery and rehabilitation, and was especially moved by dependency cases that involved young children. In online tributes, colleagues and friends called him “humble, insightful and fair” and “a consummate gentleman.” He became a senior judge in 2009.
Judge Rufe was the husband of U.S. District Court Senior Judge Cynthia M. Rufe and brother of retired Bucks County Judge William Hart Rufe III. He and his older brother are the only brothers to have served simultaneously on the same bench in Pennsylvania, and he and his wife are believed to be just the second married couple to have served together on the same bench in the state when she was on the Bucks County court from 1994 to 2002.
He was featured in The Inquirer after his appointment in 1989 and spoke just two days after his first case. “People have been saying ‘Congratulations, Your Honor,’ in varying degrees for a couple of months now,” he said. “It’s always been while they are smiling.”
Then he added: Now, “people have been referring to me as ‘Judge’ and ‘Your Honor’ with no smile on the face, no flattery involved. I just recognize that it’s real now. ...The time for congratulations is over. The time for the job is at hand.”
Judge Rufe served as a Bucks County assistant district attorney from 1968 to 1971 and worked in private practice at Rufe & Lechowicz in Bucks County until 1989. Earlier, he clerked for Bucks County president judge Edward G. Biester.
He ran uncontested in the 1986 Democratic primary for a state Senate seat and lost in the general election to state Rep. James C. Greenwood. During that campaign, he called himself “a civil rights advocate without compromise.”
He was onetime president of the Bucks County Bar Association, Legal Aid Society Advisory Board, Pennridge Jaycees, and what is now BARC Developmental Services. The bar association renamed its annual softball game the Honorable John J. Rufe Softball Classic a few years ago to honor him as “the best umpire ever,” and it recognized his “life, dedication and professionalism” in a recent formal resolution.
His family said in a tribute: “He was a calm, steady influence over others and exercised impeccable judgment.”
Born Dec. 12, 1939, in Sellersville, John Jacob Rufe ran track, played football, studied drama, and graduated from Pennridge High School in 1957. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Lafayette College in 1962 and law degree from Duke University in 1965.
He married Barbara Batchie, and they had daughters Katherine, Kristen, and Amy, and lived in Perkasie. They divorced later. He married Cynthia Weaver in 1999, and welcomed her daughters, Tiffany and Meredith, into their blended family in Newtown.
Judge Rufe and his wife, then a Bucks County judge, were featured in an Inquirer article after their wedding, and he said: “We are capable of supporting each other in what can sometimes be a lonely job.” They shared interests in history, opera, music, and theater. They gardened together and traveled to Europe and the Caribbean.
He also liked to fish and ski, play golf and tennis. He often read the Declaration of Independence aloud on the Fourth of July to share his love of country.
He wore memorable ties and inspired his family as he battled Parkinson’s for three decades. “He dedicated his life to public service and the law,” his family said, “living with integrity, grace, and commitment to do as much as possible to improve the lives of others.”
His wife said: “He was quietly engaging and charming. He had a delightful intellect and was a man with a kind word for anyone.”
In addition to his wife, daughters, brother, stepdaughters, and former wife, Judge Rufe is survived by six grandchildren, another brother, and other relatives. A sister died earlier.
Private services were held earlier.
Donations in his name may be made to Friends Nursing Home at Chandler Hall, 99 Barclay St., Newtown, Pa. 18940; and Bucks for Kids, Box 1711, Doylestown, Pa. 18901.