Columbus native John Sharpnack, shown in a photo from the Indiana Court of Appeals, served on the court from 1990 until his retirement in 2008, and remained to serve by appointment as a senior judge until as recently as 2022. Sharpnack died Monday at 90.
Columbus native, U.S. Army veteran and longtime local attorney John Sharpnack, who served for decades as a judge and a leader of the Indiana Court of Appeals, died Monday at Four Seasons Healthcare Center in Columbus. He was 90.
Sharpnack, whose name continues on in the name of a Columbus law firm, was sworn in as a judge of the Indiana Court of Appeals in December 1990 after his appointment to the court by Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh. The 15 judges on the court hear civil and criminal appeals from all Indiana trial courts, serving on rotating three-judge panels. The Court of Appeals is the intermediate appeals court below the Indiana Supreme Court.
According to The Republic archives, at the time of his appointment, Sharpnack was only the second person from Columbus named to an Indiana appellate court in the 1900s. Sharpnack served as the chief judge of the Court of Appeals from 1992 through 2001 and retired from the court in 2008, according to the court’s online biography.
After his retirement from the court, Sharpnack continued to serve as a senior judge, certified to serve by appointment as a panelist on a few cases a year. According to the Indiana Office of Judicial Administration, Sharpnack was certified to serve as a senior judge as recently as 2022.
Coming from a family of attorneys — Sharpnack’s father and grandfather both practiced law in Columbus — he earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Cincinnati, the latter in 1960. Between earning those degrees, he served a tour in the US Army.
After earning his law degree, Sharpnack worked for a time in the antitrust division of the US Department of Justice in Washington. In 1963, he returned to his hometown to practice alongside his father at Sharpnack, Bigley, David and Rumple, the legacy firm to the current Columbus firm of Sharpnack Bigley Stroh & Washburn LLP.
“While in private practice, Judge Sharpnack was active in legal associations and community groups. He served as chairman of both the Trial Section and the House of Delegates of the Indiana State Bar Association, and for five years was a member of the State Bar’s Ethics Committee,” according to the Court of Appeals.
“For six years he was a member of the Indiana Supreme Court Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, and from 1987 to 1988, he was president of the Indiana Defense Lawyers Association. He also served on several local boards, including the Foundation for Youth, the United Way, and the Harrison Township Volunteer Fire Department.”
Funeral arrangements are pending at Hathaway-Myers. A full obituary will be published in Saturday’s paper and on The Republic website.
