What: Services for Dayton Municipal Court Judge Dennis Greaney
Visitation: 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Tobias Funeral Home, 3970 Dayton- Xenia Road, Beavercreek
Funeral: 10 a.m. Friday at St. Helen Church, 5086 Burkhardt Road
DAYTON — Municipal Judge Dennis J. Greaney died early Tuesday morning after battling cancer, according to court officials. He was 64.
“He truly loved being a judge,” said John Pickrel, the court’s presiding judge. “He treated everyone respectfully.”
Greaney, a Dayton native, was sworn in as judge in 2005 after having served 18 years as the court’s magistrate prior to his election in November of that year.
“Municipal court work is probably 15 to 20 percent understanding the law. It’s 80 to 85 percent being able to deal with people,” Greaney told the Dayton Daily News in 2005. “I simply love the law, and I love dealing with people,”
Greaney graduated from Chaminade High School and earned his undergraduate degree in 1969 from the University of Dayton. He taught social studies in parochial schools for four years before working two years in the private sector, then graduating from the University of Dayton Law School in 1978. He was in private practice for nine years before becoming a magistrate.
“It made him so happy when he made judge,” Pickrel said. “It was the culmination of his career.”
Greaney had been working to establish a drug court as part of the Municipal Court, Pickrel said. “We wanted to help people if he could. We’re going to try to carry (the drug court) through.”
The visitation is from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Tobias Funeral Home, 3970 Dayton Xenia Rd. in Beavercreek. The funeral will begin at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Helen Church, 5086 Burkhardt Rd. in Dayton.
In that 2005 interview, Greaney was asked how he wanted to be remembered:
“He was a good and decent man. He was a fair man and simply wanted to treat people as he wanted to be treated himself.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2290 or dpage@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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