FLORENCE MARIE COOPER, 69

Federal judge

U.S. District Judge Florence Marie Cooper, whose reputation for brilliance and fairness made her a star of the federal judiciary, died Friday of lymphoma. She was 69.

Cooper, who rose from a legal secretary to judgeships in state and federal courts, died at a Santa Monica, Calif., hospital where she was being treated, Chief Judge Audrey B. Collins announced. Cooper made headlines dismissing a case against accused Chinese spy Katrina Leung on grounds of governmental misconduct.

She also presided over a two-decade copyright battle involving the cartoon character Winnie the Pooh, as well as a wrongful death suit brought against Los Angeles by the family of rapper Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace. Cooper declared a mistrial in that case when she learned the city had failed to turn over documents.

Explaining her Leung ruling in a Los Angeles Daily Journal interview, Cooper said, "I do believe that I hold the government to a high standard. If we can't rely on the government to be honest, we are in great peril."

Cooper is survived by her husband, Les Pickens, daughters Karen Albert and Angela Sample, and son Joe Andrus, all of Los Angeles; her sister Maureen Kelly Schulze of Santa Rosa, Calif., and grandchildren. Services were pending.

- Associated Press