Ex-Ark. judge, Muskegon Heights native dies

Fri, Jul 3, 2009

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Judge Andree Layton Roaf, the first black woman to serve on the Arkansas Supreme Court, died after losing consciousness in her Little Rock office.

The Muskegon Heights, Mich., native was 68.

Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper said Roaf died Wednesday at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The cause of death wasn't immediately known.

Then-Gov. Jim Guy Tucker appointed Roaf to the Arkansas Supreme Court in January 1995. A year later, she was appointed to the state appeals court, where she served until 2006.

She was the mother of retired NFL player Willie Roaf.