E. T. Gignoux; Judge in Trial of ‘Chicago Seven’
U.S. District Judge Edward T. Gignoux, who presided over the contempt trial of the “Chicago Seven,” has died at the age of 72.
Gignoux, who had been in failing health for several months, died Friday at Maine Medical Center, the hospital said. The cause of death was not disclosed, but a friend said Gignoux had suffered from throat cancer.
Born in Cape Elizabeth, Me., in 1916, Gignoux graduated from Harvard in 1937 and from its law school in 1940. He later joined a Portland, Me., law firm and served on the City Council from 1949 to 1955.
Gignoux, who lived with his wife Hildegarde in Falmouth, was appointed to the U.S. District Court bench in 1957 and for 20 years was Maine’s only federal judge. He retired in 1983, but continued to hear cases as a senior judge.
In 1973, Gignoux presided over the contempt trial of Abby Hoffman, Bobby Seale, Tom Hayden, now a California Assemblyman, and the others known as the Chicago Seven. He also presided at the bribery-conspiracy trial of U.S. District Judge Alcee Hastings in Miami.
Gignoux was honored in September when the federal courthouse in Portland was renamed the Edward Thaxter Gignoux United States Courthouse.
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