Retired executive judge De Gracia, 74
RETIRED Cebu City Regional Trial Court executive judge Fortunato de Gracia died yesterday in a private hospital due to heart complications.
He was 74 years old.
De Gracia, a former military lawyer who worked in the Judge Advocate General’s Office in Camp Sergio Osmeña, later served as presiding judge of RTC Branch 15.
He underwent heart bypass surgery in 2001.
De Gracia’s tenure as executive judge ended in September 2008 when he retired from the judiciary.
“He looked healthy. You wouldn’t have known that he had a heart ailment,” RTC Judge Meinrado Paredes told Cebu Daily News.
De Gracia, a recipient of the Chief Justice Ramon Avanceña Award, spent eight years on the bench before retiring at the age of 70.
A vigil wake is being held at the St. Peter’s Memorial Chapel in New Imus Street, Cebu City.
Details of the funeral will be announced later. /Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol
