Detroit Free Press staff

LANSING, Mich. — Thomas Brennan, a former Michigan Supreme Court justice and founder of Cooley law school, has died. He was 89.

The law school says Brennan was surrounded by family when he died Saturday in Lansing. The cause wasn't disclosed.

Brennan was just 37 years old when he was elected to the Supreme Court in 1966, the youngest Justice in the history of the State of Michigan, WZZM-TV (Grand Rapids) said. He resigned in 1973 to run the young law school, which is now known as WMU-Cooley Law School. Brennan was president for more than 20 years.

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More than 20,000 students have graduated from Cooley since 1972. Lawrence Nolan, chairman of Cooley's governing board, says "there were no limits" to Brennan's dreams.

Brennan was Richard Headlee's Republican running mate in the 1982 race for governor, an election that was won by a Democrat, James Blanchard.

Born on May 27, 1929, in Detroit, Brennan, according to his obituary, graduated from Detroit Catholic Central High School. He attended the University of Detroit and earned a law degree from the University of Detroit Law School in 1952. In 1951, he married Pauline Mary (Polly) Weinberger, with whom he had six children.

Associated Press contributed to this story.