Earl Larson, 89; U.S. Judge Presided Over Computer, NFL Cases

Earl Larson, 89, a federal judge who oversaw cases that shaped the direction of the computer industry and professional football, died Wednesday in Minneapolis of complications from a stroke.

Appointed a U.S. District Court judge in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, he continued to hear cases as a senior judge until a few years ago.

Larson presided over Honeywell vs. Sperry Rand Corp., which helped set the direction for patent cases in the computer industry, and Mackey vs. NFL, which established free agency for professional football players.

Two of his most locally significant decisions came in 1972, when Larson ruled that Minneapolis schools had to be desegregated and that Minnesota’s state mental institutions must improve care of their patients.

Raised in Minneapolis, Larson graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School. He founded and was the first president of the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union. He was chairman of the Minnesota Human Rights Commission from 1955 to 1960.