Former Attorney Henry Wade Dies

By Caitlin O'toole

09/17/1997 at 12:00 AM EDT

Former Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade, best known for his involvement in the landmark abortion case Roe vs. Wade, died Thursday at the age of 86, reports the Associated Press. A spokeswoman for the family said he died of complications from Parkinson's disease. Wade, who was a Texas legend known as "The Chief" around the Dallas courthouse, never lost a case he personally prosecuted. The Supreme Court's 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision establishing the right to an abortion began in Texas when a pregnant waitress, identified in court papers by the pseudonym Jane Roe, sued Wade. It was Wade's job as district attorney in Dallas County to enforce a state law prohibiting abortion except to save a woman's life. In 1964, Wade helped lead the prosecution of Jack Ruby, the nightclub owner who shot to death the man charged with assassinating President Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald. The jury took less than two hours to sentence Ruby to death; he died behind bars. Services for Wade were held Saturday in Dallas.