Francis Catania, 89, a respected judge

IS THERE a lawyer out there who doesn't dream about being a judge?

Francis J. Catania didn't think so.

Asked by an interviewer not long after he became a judge of the Delaware County Common Pleas Court how it felt, he replied:

"It feels fine. It is the realization of a lifetime dream. Most lawyers have in their minds the hope and the ambition to become a judge, and I am certainly no exception."

Francis Catania, a major influence on the Delaware County judicial system during 28 years on the bench and a member of a legendary political family, died Sunday of complications of a fall. He was just a few weeks short of his 90th birthday, which he was looking forward to celebrating. He was a longtime resident of Ridley Township.

Catania and his brother, Nicholas, former chairman of the Delaware County Council, had been political powers in the county since the 1960s, their names synonymous with the dominant Republican Party for decades.

Francis was highly regarded in the courthouse. "It will be a different courthouse without him, that's for sure," James F. Pound, president of the Delaware County Bar Association, said at the time Catania retired in 1991.

"Delaware County has lost a giant figure," said former President Judge Edward Zetusky Jr.

Catania, who was appointed to the county bench in 1963 by then-Gov. William W. Scranton, served as president judge for 14 years and administrative judge for six.

He had to retire when he reached age 70, but continued for a year as a senior judge before finally calling it quits in May 1991.

After his retirement, he became associated with the law firm of Richard A. Sprague, who had been the prosecutor in one of the most memorable of the hundreds of trials Catania ran.

In 1974, Catania was chosen to preside over the trial of W.A. "Tony" Boyle, president of the United Mine Workers who was accused of ordering the murder of his union rival, Joseph A. "Jock" Yablonski.

Yablonski, 59, was shot to death in 1970 in his home in Washington County, Pa., along with his wife, Margaret, 57, and their daughter, Charlotte, 25.

Subsequent investigation led to the arrests of the actual killers and evidence mounted that Boyle was behind the murders. His trial wound up in Media on a change of venue and Catania's court became the focus of worldwide publicity.

Boyle was convicted of first-degree murder. The state Supreme Court granted him a new trial on procedural grounds, but Boyle was convicted by another jury in the retrial, also presided over by Catania and prosecuted by Sprague. Catania sentenced Boyle to three life sentences. He died in 1985 of heart disease at age 83.

Catania was born in Woodlyn, Delaware County, and graduated from Ridley Township High School. He went on to Temple University Law School and was admitted to the Delaware County bar in 1950.

He served five years in the Army in World War II, including 16 months in China. The experience was good for him, he said.

"When I came back, I was able to approach law with a much more mature mind," he once said.

In 1950, he married Elizabeth Frandsen. They had six children. She died in 2008.

Catania's political career began when he was elected a Republican committeeman in Ridley Township in 1949. In 1961, he became a member of the Republican Board of Supervisors, called the "War Board," which ran county politics under the iron hand of the legendary John J. McClure for decades.

"Francis was probably the second-most-powerful politician in the county prior to becoming a judge, by being McClure's lieutenant," a Republican politician once said.

As a judge, Catania was known for running a tight ship, not hesitating to dress down lawyers he felt were not prepared. He was also credited with numerous innovations to improve court administration. He established new courtrooms and introduced the computerization of court procedures.

"He was terribly receptive to new ideas and not unwilling to try them," a colleague once said.

Catania was a devoted family man. His daughter Nancy Gremminger said he was always home for dinner.

"He was like a teddy bear," she said. "He was somebody you could always talk to."

He is also survived by two sons, Francis Jr. and Christopher; three other daughters, Beth Ann, Mary Louise and May Marie; and his brothers, Nicholas, and Charles, head of Catania Engineering.

Services: Funeral Mass 11 a.m. Saturday at St. John Chrysostom Church, 615 S. Providence Road, Wallingford. Friends may call at 9 a.m. Burial will be in Ss. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Marple.