THE HON. Judge LEO ADDERLY: Made other significant community contributions beyond his service on the bench. PHOTO COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

MIAMI, Fla. – Leo Adderly, a retired Miami-Dade County judge and nephew of the late Judge David Johnson, who was the second African American judge in the county’s history, died at his Miami home on July 4. He was 84.

"HE AND HIS DEVOTED WIFE (WILDA) TRAVELED AROUND THE WORLD AND OFTEN SHARED ADVENTURES WITH THEIR FAMILY AND FRIENDS,” SAID HIS COUSIN DOROTHY FIELDS. “HE WILL BE GREATLY MISSED."

Adderly’s wife, Wilda B. Adderly, said her husband died after a brief illness.

Adderly, who was appointed to the bench in 1981 by then-Florida Gov. Bob Graham and served 22 years, presiding over civil cases until he retired in 2003, had decided to follow in his uncle David’s footsteps.

His uncle, the youngest of seven children of Bahamian immigrants, was born in Miami’s Colored Town, and graduated from Booker T. Washington Senior High School, in 1931.

Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree from West Virginia State College, then a law degree from Howard University, where he served as chief justice of Sigma Delta Tau Legal Fraternity.

He worked at the Pentagon during and after law school before returning to Miami in 1947 with his new wife Johnalie.

Johnson began his law practice out of his brother Dr. S. H. Johnson’s radiology clinic in Overtown. In 1955, he became Miami-Dade’s second Black judge in the county’s history since Reconstructions and the fourth Black judge in Florida.

“Well, I was fortunate to be born into a successful middle-class family, and I had part of the world," Adderly said in a Brownsville Historic Survey. "I had two uncles who were medical doctors, one a radiologist. And I had another who was a judge."

"I can remember going to my first school, actually high school, nursing, at Booker T. Washington High School," Adderly added. "My mother was the teacher. But that’s where I got my first formal education."

Wilda Adderly said her husband was born in Miami on Oct. 27, 1938.

At Booker T. Washington High School he was the recipient of the Miami Herald Silver Knight Award, and earned his bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga. in 1956.

Like his uncle, Adderly earned his law degree from Howard University School of Law. Prior to his appointment to the bench, he practiced law for 16 years including serving as a public defender and subsequently private practice.

Beyond his service on the bench, Adderly made other significant community contributions.

He was among the first group of nine attorneys to serve as Legal Services of Greater Miami staff attorneys in 1966, for example, and later served as board president.

Adderly was a charter member of the National Museum of African American History in Washington, D.C., member of the Miami-Dade Bar Association, the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Bar Association and the Florida Chapter of the National Bar Association.

Adderly also was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

Wilda and Leo Adderly met when they served on a committee for the United Negro College Fund. They tied the knot in 1979 in Orlando, Fla.

Leo Adderly had three children from a previous marriage.

Wilda Adderly said her husband was a good provider and her best friend for 44 years.

"I will always think of the memories we shared together," she said. "I’ll always love him and always will miss him every day."

Adderly said she and her husband traveled a lot together during their union, journeys that took them to six different continents and more than 100 countries covering 100,000 miles.

She said they visited several African nations, European cities and countries such as London, England and Paris, France, as well as Asia, Canada, Brazil and Mexico.

"We love to travel," she said. "We have been to almost every continent and visited a different country each year until 2008. We had wonderful times traveling together."

Dr. Dorothy Ellen Jenkins Fields, founder of the Black Archives, History and Research Foundation of South Florida and Adderly’s cousin, said he would always have the right answers to other people’s questions.

"From childhood, my cousin enjoyed giving the correct answers to questions and correcting others," she said. "He and his devoted wife traveled around the world and often shared adventures with their family and friends. He will be greatly missed."

Adderly is survived by his wife and three children, Eleen AdderlyBreedlove, Samual Adderly and Kimberly Brusch.

A memorial service has been scheduled for Saturday, July 15 at 11 a.m. at the Church of Incarnation, 1835 NW 54th St. in Miami.

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made to the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.