(AP) — Retired Hall County Judge David Bush has died at the age of 65.

Laurie Sheffield of All Faiths Funeral Home in Grand Island said Monday that Bush died Sunday at a nursing facility. He had been battling cancer.

Bush retired in May 2011 after 24 years of service as a judge. He’d been appointed to the county court bench by then-Gov. Kay Orr.

Former law partner John McDermott says Bush “was fair and compassionate” and “extremely balanced.”

Bush first worked in corporate law in Lincoln and then served three years in the Lincoln city attorney’s office before moving to North Platte to go into private practice. He moved to Grand Island in 1980 and became a defense attorney.