The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Joseph Kinneary, a retired federal judge who formerly practiced law in Cincinnati, has died at age 97.

Kinneary died Friday at his home in Upper Arlington. He retired in August 2001 after 35 years as a U.S. District judge. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Kinneary a U.S. District judge in 1966 after Kinneary served as a U.S. attorney for five years.

Kinneary graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1928 and got a law degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1935.

He also practiced law in his hometown of Cincinnati, worked for the Ohio attorney general's office and served in the legal division of the Army Quartermaster Corps during World War II.

The federal court building in Columbus was named the Kinneary U.S. Courthouse in 1998.

In 2000, Kinneary had a nonspeaking role as an Ohio Supreme Court justice in the movie Traffic.

A funeral is scheduled for Thursday at 12:10 p.m. at St. Francis DeSales Church in Cincinnati, followed by burial at St. Joseph Cemetery.