By Joselyn Baez Urena (Intern, Hon. Stacie F. Beckerman) Retired U.S. Magistrate Judge John “Jack” Cooney passed away on January 19, 2026, at his home in Medford, Oregon, just days before his ninety-fourth birthday. Judge Cooney served as a part-time magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court’s Medford Division from 1989 until 1993 (while continuing his local private law practice with Donald K. Denman), and as a full-time magistrate judge from 1993 until he retired from full-time service in 2007. He was the District of Oregon’s first magistrate judge to serve in Medford. Judge Cooney’s successor, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke, recalls Judge Cooney fondly “as a smart and…