SALT LAKE CITY — Fair. Funny. Compassionate. Wise.

Judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and court staff gathered Wednesday to share emotional accounts of former jurist Robert Hilder, who died last week after a battle with esophageal cancer.

Hilder — a former 3rd District Court judge who retired and became the Summit County attorney — was known for looking beyond the situation in front of him to the human being behind it, they said, recounting the respectful way he treated those in his courtroom and the times he reached out to help his colleagues.

Participants in the informal memorial filled the benches and lined the walls of the Utah Supreme Court chamber in the Matheson Courthouse, while the flag outside the building was briefly lowered in his honor. One by one, representatives from Hilder's many friends in the law community shared humorous courtroom tales and touching anecdotes in the open mic-style gathering.

Retired 3rd District Judge Sandra Peuler described Hilder's painful childhood, facing an alcoholic father who abused his mother, and how it eventually pushed him to move out of his house as a teenager without completing high school.

Many people in similar situations eventually end up in a courtroom, Peuler noted, though often not in the way Hilder did. He set a goal to practice law and become a judge.

Those experiences in Hilder's life informed his decisions on the bench, Peuler said.

"He was not a judge who saw things in black and white," she said. "He saw the complexities in the people before him."

Third District Judge Ann Boyden told the crowd how Hilder had mentored her during her career. After she was forced to take several months off for taxing chemotherapy, Boyden said Hilder and his characteristic sense of humor were waiting in her chambers for her on her first day back at work.

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Dealing with subsequent nerve damage and balance issues from the treatment, Boyden said she was struggling with her judicial robe when Hilder assured her there was no rule obligating her to wear it.

But when Boyden replied that Hilder should stop wearing his robe in solidarity, she laughed as she recalled his response: "Well I wouldn't go that far."

Ultimately, Boyden said the experience proved to her it wasn't Hilder's robe that made him a judge, but his personal qualities.

Richard Mauro, executive director of the Salt Lake Legal Defenders Association, said attorneys in the organization have long praised Hilder for the fair and compassionate way he treated their clients.

Hilder was always considered "a good draw" when defense attorneys signed on to cases in his courtroom, Mauro said, especially when representing clients who were homeless, addicted or mentally ill.

"He looked at them with compassion, sympathy and a deep understanding of who the people in front of him were and are," Mauro said.

A native of Australia, Hilder became a notable and at times controversial figure in Utah during is career.

In 2003, Hilder upheld a University of Utah policy barring guns from the campus. He believed it was that decision that cost him a seat in the appellate court in 2008 when the Utah Senate rejected his bid, despite wide support from prosecutors, defense attorneys and others.

In public and behind closed doors, Hilder said he believed he was denied for more personal reasons, including his divorce and inactivity in the LDS Church.

Bill Hansen, from the Christensen & Jensen law firm where Hilder once worked, recalled the contentious meeting and his desire to dump a drink from the balcony onto senators disparaging his colleague.

"I found myself fortunate to have crossed paths with someone I saw as a giant," Hansen said, his voice cracking.

A celebration of Hilder's life is scheduled for his birthday, May 15, in Santy Auditorium in Park City Library, according to his obituary. In lieu of flowers, Hilder's family has asked that donations be made to the Robert K. Hilder Memorial Scholarship Fund, which has been established to benefit first generation immigrants in their legal education at the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law, where Hilder studied and later taught.

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