Mark Schwiebert remembers late Judge Walter Braud

Tributes continue to pour in after the death of longtime Rock Island attorney, judge, author and community leader Walter Braud on August 13 at the age of 86. Attorney and former Rock Island mayor Mark Schwiebert spoke with Our Quad Cities News via Zoom to share his memories of Judge Braud.

“Walter and I have known each other for… I've been practicing law for just over 50 years now and he was in practice when I started, a few years before I started,” Schwiebert said. “I've known him during that period of time and worked with him as both a fellow attorney and then when he was serving as judge and then chief judge in Rock Island County.”

He said Braud was instrumental in developing the new Rock Island County Justice Center. “I think that he was a pioneer. He had a very large and well-respected law firm in the area for many years, a respected litigator, and he took those litigation skills to the bench when he became a judge. He was recognized by his fellow judges as a leader, as they chose him as chief judge for the 14th Judicial Circuit. You encounter a person and work with them in a lot of different ways over that period of time. I always found Walter to be a very competent, able attorney and a very respectable and respectful judge. He had some major accomplishments. The new courthouse that we have, our justice center was something that Walter was heavily involved with as chief judge.”

Schwiebert said he was surprised to learn more about Braud years later. “I wasn't aware, for example, that he was a very gifted musician for many years. That wasn't something that figured into our law practice, of course, very much. But it was part of his background and the book he wrote within the last couple of years, sort of a tribute to his mother, entitled ‘Bessie's Prayer,’ reflected that experience and a number of other experiences he had before he became an attorney. I think his impact obviously is going to be different for different people. Certainly, there will be a strong impact on his lovely wife Gertrude and their family, on the bar association.”

“I think that one of his lasting legacies will be the courthouse that has now given us a new lease on life for the future there at the foot of the Centennial Bridge, and so I think his legacy will live long and be a very honorable one.”

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