Cady, who made his home with his family in Fort Dodge for nearly 40 years, passed away unexpectedly after a heart attack in Des Moines in November 2019. On Friday afternoon, two days after what would have been his 70th birthday, Cady’s leadership and service on the bench were honored and memorialized by the Webster County Bar Association with a memorial hearing and the unveiling of a commissioned portrait to hang in the Webster County Courthouse. Cady’s widow, children and grandchildren filled the front row of the gallery of the large courtroom for the event.

“This hearing has been a long time coming,” said Senior Webster County District Court Judge Thomas Bice, who presided over the hearing.

The COVID pandemic and scheduling of routine court proceedings contributed to the delay, he said.

“But we are delighted and just satisfied beyond belief that we’re able to gather today to honor your late husband, your father and highly-respected chief justice,” Bice said.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
The family of the late Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady fill the front row of the gallery in the Webster County Courthouse on Friday afternoon for a memorial hearing in honor of the late chief justice. Cady passed away unexpectedly in November 2019 and on Friday, the Webster County Bar Association honored his legacy of service to Webster County and Iowa with the unveiling of a portrait that will be displayed in the atrium of the Webster County Courthouse.

Memorial hearings are a tradition for the Webster County Bar Association, to honor members who have passed. A court record is made of the hearing and provided to the family.

Longtime friend and colleague Dave Sergeant, a Fort Dodge attorney, first met Cady in 1978 and shared memories of getting to know Cady while on the golf course over the years. In fact, when Sergeant competed in the U.S. Senior Open in Toledo, Ohio, in 2003, Cady volunteered to serve as his caddy on the links.

“I didn’t play particularly well, but that was OK because I had Mark by my side and he was a great motivator,” Sergeant said. “And when the media got on to a supreme court justice caddying for a lawyer, they took off with it.”

Sergeant recalled an Associated Press photo that ran in the national news media that showed Cady giving Sergeant some advice on lining up his shot on the green and headlines like “Supreme Help” and “Court Caddy.”

“My wife said ‘When you look at all this, Mark actually ended up with more press than you did,'” Sergeant said. Laughter, an uncommon sound in a courtroom, filled the air.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Becky Cady, widow of the late Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady, reacts to the unveiling of a portrait that the Webster County Bar Association commissioned in honor of her husband on Friday afternoon at the Webster County Courthouse. The entire Cady family was present for the hearing and unveiling.

That photo, Sergeant said, hung on the walls in each of their offices for many, many years.

When the two colleagues spent time on the golf course, Sergeant said, they made a point to not talk about the law and instead just talked about golf and the legends they were playing with.

Local attorney Neven Mulholland echoed words that were spoken at Cady’s funeral — “Mark Cady was a judge’s judge.”

Cady, born in Rapid City, South Dakota, was appointed a district associate judge in 1983 and a district court judge in 1986. In 1994, he was appointed to the Iowa Court of Appeals. He was elected chief judge of the Court of Appeals in 1997. The following year he was named to the state Supreme Court. Cady had served on the Supreme Court since 1998 and was elected chief justice by his fellow justices in 2011, a position he served in until his death in 2019.

District Court Associate Judge Joseph Tofilon, a member of the memorial committee, noted that throughout Mark Cady’s years of service he’d held every judge title except for magistrate.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
The late Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady, of Fort Dodge, was honored Friday at the Webster County Courthouse with a memorial hearing. Following the hearing, Cady's granddaughters posed with a portrait of their grandfather that was commissioned by the Webster County Bar Association. From left are Brynn Fraser, 10; Corah Cady, 7; Cameryn Cady, 5; and Kinley Fraser, 8.

“Mark was a judge’s judge, but he earned it,” Mulholland said. “He did it the old fashioned way … he worked his way up to become the chief justice of the Supreme Court.”

Those years Cady spent on the bench gave him incomparable experience and expertise, Mulholland said.

“I always felt that Mark understood the Iowa judicial system better than any attorney or judge I ever met, because he lived it,” he said. “He knew what those district associate judges were going through, he knew the challenges of being a judge on the Court of Appeals with their workload.”

That understanding of the judiciary made Cady the person Iowa needed in the chief justice seat when he was elected by his fellow justices in 2011, during a period of turmoil following the court’s 2009 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa, according to Mulholland.

“He was a really impressive jurist, but he was a better leader,” Mulholland said. “When he came in in 2011, tensions were high.”

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Local attorney Dave Sergeant shares memories of his friend, the late Iowa Supreme Court Justice Mark Cady, acting as a golf caddy for Sergeant at the 2003 U.S. Senior Open in Toledo, Ohio, during a memorial hearing honoring the late chief justice on Friday at the Webster County Courthouse.

Cady was essentially walking into a “hornet’s nest,” Mulholland said, but he took it in stride and stepped up to lead. Cady’s leadership wasn’t just seen in the courtroom or judge’s chambers, but in his work with the various bar associations and as a president of the Council of Chief Justices and chairman for the National Center for State Courts.

“Remarkable,” Mulholland said. “He took his job and being a member of the judiciary extremely seriously, but he didn’t have it above his faith, his family and his friends.”

A life-long student of the law and relentless hard-worker, Cady will be remembered as an effective chief justice and everyone who knew him was proud to be associated with Mark Cady, Mulholland said.

Following the comments from Sergeant and Mulholland and proclamations from both the county and the state bar associations, a new portrait painting that was commissioned by the Webster County Bar Association was unveiled by County Attorney Darren Driscoll and artist Jennifer Bemrich Dutcher. The painting will be framed and put on display in the atrium on the first floor of the courthouse, a building the late justice spent countless hours in over the decades.

Cady’s widow, Becky, who now lives in Des Moines, said she was nearly speechless when she saw the portrait.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Becky Cady, widow of the late Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady, hugs Jennifer Bemrich Dutcher at the Webster County Courthouse after the unveiling of a portrait of the late justice that was painted by Dutcher and commissioned by the Webster County Bar Association on Friday.

“It’s really an honor,” she said.

“He’d be proud, honored and humbled to have this,” the couple’s son, Spencer Cady, said. “He loved Webster County and having this as his hometown. He had great pride in the Webster County Bar Association.”

At his passing, Mark Cady left behind his wife of 37 years, Becky; son Spencer Cady; daughter Kelsi Fraser; and granddaughters Brynn Fraser, Kinley Fraser, Corah Cady and Cameryn Cady.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Webster County Senior District Court Judge Thomas Bice shares his memories of the late Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady during a memorial hearing and portrait unveiling at the Webster County Courthouse on Friday afternoon.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Local attorney Dave Sergeant kept a photo he had framed of the late Iowa Supreme Court Justice Mark Cady acting as a golf caddy for Sergeant at the 2003 U.S. Senior Open in Toledo, Ohio. On Friday, Sergeant brought the photo to a memorial hearing for the late chief justice at the Webster County Courthouse.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
District Associate Judge Joseph Tofilon and Webster County Attorney Darren Driscoll were on the memorial committee for the Webster County Bar Association and organized a memorial hearing in honor of the late Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady on Friday at the Webster County Courthouse. Cady, who served his entire career in Fort Dodge until he was appointed to the Iowa Court of Appeals in 1994. Cady continued to live in Fort Dodge throughout his time on the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court until his death.