Joseph Dennis Howe

Joseph Dennis Howe, a brilliant lawyer, judge, and law professor, died October 24, 2025, in Sedona, Arizona. He was 91. Joe, born July 2, 1934, in Iowa City, Iowa, was the eldest child of Joseph Warner Howe and Luceille Dennis Howe.

After attending the University of Iowa for a year and a half, he went west to work in Yellowstone National Park. Thereafter, he married Doris, moved to Tucson, and graduated from both the University of Arizona and its law school. After practicing law in Tucson, he attended Harvard Law School and received his Master of Laws degree. After graduation, he accepted a position as a law professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland for three years, then relocated to Phoenix, where he was employed as a prosecutor and a public defender, and, in 1987, was appointed a judge of the Superior Court of the State of Arizona. His community activities at that time included serving as the 81st President of the Rotary Club of Phoenix, Arizona.

Joe retired from the bench and, with his wife, Susan, moved to Sedona in 2001. Their travels took them and their rescue dog, Gromit, to Europe. Joe was so enamored by France that they bought a vacation home in the Burgundy region, and he immersed himself in the French culture, took language classes, and was able to converse comfortably with his French friends and neighbors. He often hosted elaborate hours-long, four-course dinners at their home overlooking a vineyard. Joe reveled in the more than twenty years of summers there.

As much as he enjoyed summers in France, he was always happy to return home to Arizona. Over the years, Joe enjoyed his relationship with his stepchildren and their spouses, John Worth and his wife, Lauren, and Sharon Jones and her husband, Kevin.

In addition to his wife, Susan, Joe is survived by his daughter, Janet Louise Lopez-Lenz and her husband, John, of Glen Rose, Texas; his sister, Judith Smith of Coralville, Iowa; three grandchildren, Michelle Steir and her husband, Kevin, of Virginia, Nicole Lopez of Idaho, and Joseph Matthew Lopez of Texas; two great-grandchildren, Mia and Reid Steir; and his former wife, Doris Howe, of Texas. His sons, Jeffrey Douglas Howe and Joseph Bradford Howe, predeceased him.

He lived his life guided by a keen intellect, a strong moral compass, and an insatiable curiosity.

A Requiem Mass at 3 pm, November 14, 2025, will be held at St. Luke’s Church, 2700 SR179, Sedona. All family and friends are cordially invited to attend.

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