John W. Reynolds, 80;

Judge Oversaw School Busing in Milwaukee

John W. Reynolds, 80, the Wisconsin federal judge who oversaw integration of the Milwaukee public schools in the 1970s, died last Sunday in a Milwaukee hospital of complications from heart disease.

His nomination to the federal bench by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 capped a notable political career. Reynolds, a Democrat, served as Wisconsin’s attorney general from 1958 to 1962, a job his father had held three decades earlier. The future judge also served as governor from 1963 to 1965, establishing the state’s first women’s commission and arts council and working to improve conditions at mental hospitals.

As a jurist, Reynolds became chief judge of the Federal District Court in Milwaukee from 1971 to 1986. He attracted national attention in 1976 when he ordered the Milwaukee Board of Education to racially integrate its schools. The litigation ended three years later when the board agreed to an out-of-court settlement that included widespread busing.

Born in Green Bay, Wis., Reynolds earned an economics degree from the University of Wisconsin, and after serving in World War II, earned his law degree there.