Retired Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Dan Lee has died after a lengthy illness.

    Lee died Sunday of complications of Parkinson’s Disease, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, his family told The Clarion-Ledger. He was 84.

    Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Wright and Ferguson Funeral Home in Madison.

    Lee served on the state Supreme Court from 1982 to 1998. After leaving the bench, he successfully pushed for proper legal representation for those on death row.

    ‘‘Dan was a people’s judge,’’ said former Justice Jimmie Robertson. ‘‘He greatly believed that a man should have his day in court. He felt like some of us were trying to make the law too high falutin. It needed to be simple.’’

    Robertson said Lee ‘‘just really cared about the people.’’ As a result, Lee found it difficult at times to decide, Robertson said.

    ‘‘He hated to rule against anybody,’’ said Robertson.

    Former Justice Fred Banks called Lee a ‘‘middle-of- the-road judge who had a soft spot for victims. He could stand up for criminal defendants as well. If their rights were violated, he would say so.’’

    A naval aviator, Lee began practicing law a few years after returning from World War II. After years of private practice, Lee served on the Mississippi Oil and Gas Board as well as the Interstate Oil Compact Commission before becoming a Hinds County judge, first on the county court, and then on the circuit court.

    Terryl Rushing, death penalty law clerk for the U.S. District Court in Jackson, served as one of Lee’s early law clerks.

    ‘‘I think his primary concern was ’was it fair?’ ‘‘ she said. ‘‘As he put it, ’Did it make walking-around sense?’ He didn’t want to pronounce anything that trial judges would not be able to apply.’’

    He also had strong feelings about having a position on the state’s high court, she said.

    ‘‘He felt service on the Supreme Court should be something at the end of a legal career so you are not beholden to anyone,’’ she said.

    Rushing recalled the May 20, 1987, execution of Edward Earl Johnson, the second execution in Mississippi after the U.S. Supreme Court reinstituted the death penalty. In those days, the execution took place at midnight at the State Penitentiary at Parchman, and Lee kept his chambers open all night.

    Minutes before Johnson was to be executed, Lee stepped forward and spoke to his staff about what was going to happen, she recalled.

    ‘‘He said, ’Let’s say a prayer for this young man and his soul.’’

    After word came the execution had taken place, Lee gathered his staff, and once again they prayed for Johnson, she recalled. ‘‘He said the death penalty was the law of the land, but his name was on the warrant. He took it seriously.’’

    Lee’s wife of 54 years, Mary Alice Lee, said she’s happy people remember her husband’s good character.

    ‘‘He was never influenced by anybody,’’ she said.

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    Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, http://www.clarionledger.com