Federal Judge Kenneth Ryskamp dies at 85

In his 30 years as a federal judge ruling on some of South Florida’s most contentious civil rights cases — including desegregation suits against the Broward School Board — U.S. District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp was dogged by the perception that he was insensitive to matters of race discrimination.

Retired since January and living in Jupiter, the controversial judge who spent much of his time on the bench in West Palm Beach died Wednesday. He was 85.

U.S. Constitutional law expert and attorney Bruce Rogow said Ryskamp was a demanding but brilliant jurist who got “a bad rap.”

“He was patient, he was a good listener, he was a serious person, he was a religious person, but he always committed to following the law as he saw it,” Rogow said. “I thought that hiccup that happened in the civil rights arena was not merited, was not deserved and underestimated his commitment to the law.

“I never had any doubt about his integrity in civil rights cases.”

In the mid to late ‘90s Ryskamp dismissed key cases challenging the Broward School District’s desegregation policies.

In one case he ruled that the school system was sufficiently desegregated and that the school board no longer could use race as a factor in determining where students attend school.

Another suit in which a Hallandale High student and a Sunrise Middle student claimed discrimination was dismissed by Ryskamp who ruled that they were not intentionally discriminated against.

And in another controversial ruling, he dismissed another landmark case. He ruled that the Broward School Board did not intentionally discriminate against black schoolchildren when it built larger, more modern schools in predominantly white sections of the county, bused blacks out of their neighborhoods, and barred them from specialized magnet programs.

Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Mich., Ryskamp was nominated to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. He retired from full-time service to become a senior judge in January 2000, a status that allowed him to handle a much smaller caseload. As of January, he had taken inactive senior status.

Ryskamp lost a nomination to a higher court in 1991. He was met by stiff opposition by civil rights groups who said he was insensitive to minorities and harbored “a definite hostility to civil rights and constitutional claims.”

Perhaps most damming was his 23-year membership at a Coral Gables country club with a reputation for excluding Jews and blacks.

Ryskamp was a graduate from the University of Miami and lived in Coral Gables for 20 years before moving with his wife to Jupiter in 1993. There, he was very involved at the First Presbyterian Church of North Palm Beach.

“He was like a second father to me,” said federal Assistant Public Defender Lori Barrist. “He was noble, he was regal, he was everything a judge should be.”

Ryskamp had looked forward to retirement with his wife of 52 years, Karyl Sonja Ryskamp, but her death in May 2016 altered those plans, Barrist said. Ryskamp was never quite the same since, she said.

Ryskamp is survived by his daughter, Cara Ryskamp Porter, and two granddaughtes, Leigh Hinton Brown and Dana Bennett Brown.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

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