Wesley E. Brown, Oldest Judge in Nation's History, Dies at 104 The Wichita Eagle, via Associated Press Judge Wesley E. Brown in 2000. Judge Wesley E. Brown, whose work ethic and a hale constitution kept him climbing the stairs to his fourth-floor courtroom past his 100th birthday, making him the oldest active federal judge in the nation's history, died on Monday in Wichita, Kan. He was 104. He died in his sleep, said Judge Monti L. Belot, a former law clerk to Judge Brown who later served alongside him at the United States District Court in Wichita. Judge Brown, who served on the bench for nearly five decades, attributed his longevity to the job itself. "I was appointed for life or good behavior," he would often say, referring to the constitutional language that allowed him to stay in the post indefinitely, "whichever I lose first." Wesley Ernest Brown was born on June 22, 1907, in Hutchinson, Kan. At 37 he served in the Navy in World War II. A 1933 graduate of the Kansas City School of Law, he worked as a lawyer in private practice, a county attorney and a bankruptcy judge before President John F. Kennedy appointed him to the district court in 1962. He is survived by a son and a daughter, four granddaughters and eight great-grandchildren. As his health declined in recent months, he reduced his caseload. But Judge Brown, who was the subject of a Page 1 profile in The New York Times in 2010, was still working from bed in recent weeks, telling colleagues he just wanted to get back to his courtroom. "He was driven by his work," said Mike Lahey, who was a longtime law clerk for the judge. He loved it, and it was his reason for living at the end.