Nicholas Sokal

Nicholas Sokal, who retired in 1985 after 37 years in the federal service, 20 years of which he was a U.S. District Court Reporter for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, died on Sunday, April 9, 2000. He was 71. Mr. Sokal was a resident of Kent Island, MD, since 1975, having moved there from Cheverly, MD. He was educated in the public schools of Vintondale, PA, and was a graduate of Cambria Rowe Business College in Johnstown, PA. He began his career in the Federal Government in 1948 as an administrative assistant to the Director of Political Affairs at the National War College at Fort McNair in Washington, DC. He graduated from The Stenotype Institute in Washington after changing careers to become a court reporter. He served with the Investigations Division of the Office of the Inspector General, Dept. of the Army and traveled worldwide. In late 1964, he became a conference reporter for the White House and worked in the office of the Press Secretary, Bill Moyers, traveling with President Lyndon Johnson and the White House Press Office. In 1966, Mr. Sokal was appointed as an Official Court Reporter in the U.S. District Court for the DC and worked for the Hon. John J. Sirica from 1966 to 1980, during which he reported the famous Water Gate trial. Upon Judge Sirica’s retirement, Mr. Sokal was the Official Reporter for the Hon. Harold Green and was responsible for the supervision of the reporting of the infamous AT&T antitrust case. Survivors include his wife, the former Lorraine Martin of Nanty Glo, PA, whom he married in 1949; daughters, Donna McInturff and Joyce Sokal; and granddaughters, Nicole and Stacey McInturff, all of Kent Island. Mr. Sokal was a veteran of the Korean Conflict, having served in the U.S. Air Force in 1951 and 1952. He was a member of the Kent Island United Methodist Church, served as head usher, and was a certified Lay Speaker. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, April 13, 2000, at the Kent Island United Methodist Church in Chester. Friends and family may call on Wednesday, April 12, 2000, at the Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home in Chester from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Interment will be in the Maryland Veteran’s Cemetery in Crownsville, MD.