Sad day.

Longtime Milwaukee federal judge Rudolph Randa, whose tough sentences and rulings on the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy and the John Doe investigation of Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign thrust him into the spotlight in recent years, has died.

Randa, 76, died early Monday after a battle with cancer that drove him from the bench in February. The veteran judge had surgery in December, and two months later took senior status, a form of semi-retirement for federal judges. At the time, Chief Judge William Griesbach said Randa was expected to recover from the surgery and return to the bench.