As a judge, Alexander P. Bicket made those around him feel at ease.
Whether it was from the bench of his third-floor courtroom with the parties before him or in his chambers, where he regularly welcomed students, interns and young lawyers, he was unassuming.
A native of South Africa — with a strong accent even more than 40 years after coming to the United States — Bicket showed a genuine interest in those around him.
“He just collected friends and people who cared for him,” said his wife, Susan Bicket. “My life was enriched by it.”
Bicket, 68, of Mt. Lebanon, died on Monday at home. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer nearly three years ago and continued to work throughout his treatment.
Most people in the Allegheny County Courthouse on Grant Street did not know Bicket, who never smoked, was ill.
Bicket. who worked in Common Pleas Court for 13 years, presided over several high-profile cases during his time in the criminal division, including the homicide trial of former East Pittsburgh police officer Michael Rosfeld in 2019, and the 2020 guilty pleas in the rare book thefts from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
Sense of justice
Originally from Cape Town, Bicket attended a private boarding school at the foot of Table Mountain, which overlooks the city, from the age of 6, said his twin brother, Nicholas “Nicky” Bicket.
The judge excelled in sports, his brother said, including sailing and riding their pony — until he was thrown off one too many times. As for academics, he excelled there, as well, although his brother was quick to point out Bicket failed his history exams his senior year of high school.
That same year, Bicket, a tenor who had performed for years in their school choir, played the role of Major-General in “The Pirates of Penzance.”
It was a performance they still talk about, his brother said.
After high school graduation in 1973, Bicket was called up to the South African Defence Force for a year, where he primarily served as a junior chef for officers.
Afterward, Bicket attended South Africa’s Stellenbosch University. It was there, his brother said, that Bicket developed a deep discomfort with the country’s apartheid regime that discriminated against its nonwhite majority.
Bicket grew uncomfortable in the whites-only school.
“He was aware that it was patently unfair,” his brother said. “He developed a very strong sense of justice and injustice.
“He found racism — institutionalized or not — to be something he abhorred.”
They were feelings that continued to guide Bicket, decades later, in his career on the bench.
Although Bicket started out in legal studies, friends persuaded him to switch to education. He later earned a teaching degree from the University of Cape Town.
Bicket taught in South Africa for two years before following a girlfriend to New York City.
There, he earned a master’s degree in psychology from Columbia University before moving with her to Pittsburgh, where she got a job as a doctor.
The two eventually broke up.
Switching careers
Bicket, who needed a job and a visa, went to the Fox Chapel Area School District — wearing flip-flops, cut-off shorts and a T-shirt, according to his wife. He applied to teach Latin and English.
“He said, ‘I need to be sponsored for citizenship.’ They said, ‘OK, you’re hired,’ ” Susan Bicket said.
He was shocked that they offered him the job, but the high school had been looking to fill the Latin spot for years, his brother said.
When school officials saw Latin on his transcripts, they thought Bicket had studied it in college. However, the transcript they’d seen was from his high school studies, his brother said.
“He didn’t know any Latin,” he said.
Nonetheless, Bicket thrived in the district, working there from 1982 to 1989, and earning an award for teacher of the year. In 1988, he became a U.S. citizen.
While working at Fox Chapel, he enrolled in the night law school program at Duquesne University.
It was there where he met his future wife, Susan Mosites, who attended the day program.
They married in 1991, and their son, Alexander Ian, now 30, was born a few years later. August followed five years after that. Both children live in California now.
The family traveled extensively, Susan Bicket said, including frequent trips to England and South Africa.
They visited his brother in Cambridge often, and the judge’s favorite part of his visits to London was drinking ale there.
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“He would step off the plane and look for an old pub,” Nicky Bicket said.
He also recalled his brother, in his younger years, taking pint glasses from those same pubs in London to collect them.
Bicket loved Bach, but his favorite song was “American Pie” by Don McLean. His favorite place, his wife said, was Pearly Beach on the Cape Whale Coast in South Africa.
A judicial temperament
After graduating from law school, Bicket joined Zimmer Kunz. He worked in insurance defense for 23 years, including serving as a special master for U.S. District Judge Alan Bloch.
In 2011, he ran for and won a seat on the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.
“That was his favorite job by a long shot,” his wife said.
Bicket spent the first four years in the family division. His parents had been divorced when he was 2, his wife said, so it gave him additional insight and empathy into the difficulties parents and children faced.
He moved to the criminal division in 2015.
Bicket enjoyed the drama of the courtroom and understanding the psychology behind the people who appeared before him, his wife said.
U.S. District Judge Robert Colville knew Bicket for years when they both worked as attorneys, but they became close friends when Bicket was elected to the bench.
“He had a keen and intellectual respect for the rule of law, balanced against a sincere and unrelenting compassion for people, simply as fellow human beings deserving of dignity.”
Judge Jill E. Rangos was close to Bicket and often popped into his chambers — filled with dozens of photographs of his loved ones and always kept exceedingly warm with a space heater — to chat.
He directed his visitors to one of two chairs, and Bicket sat on the couch opposite, propping his feet up on the coffee table in front of him.
Rangos called him unpretentious.
“He cared more about you and less about telling you about himself,” Rangos said.
In an interview soon after Bicket was elected, he was asked what kind of judge he wanted to be.
His answer: “‘prepared, courteous, punctual, polite and compassionate.’”
“He was all those things and more,” Rangos said.
Bicket still dressed like a high school teacher, she recalled, noting he wore a shirt and tie and sweater, but rarely the full suit typical of a judge.
Each day before his staff left, Bicket unfailingly thanked them for their work.
Bicket enjoyed performing weddings, and just a few weeks before he died, led the ceremony for his secretary and her now-husband, his wife said.
He also filled the role of ethics judge in Allegheny County, Rangos said. She and others, including attorneys, went to him with questions on ethical dilemmas, seeking guidance.
Lawyers loved to appear in Bicket’s courtroom, Rangos said.
“People thought they were treated justly,” she said. “When you talk about a judicial temperament, he was the ideal of that.”
Attorney Michael Machen, who became friends with Bicket, agreed.
“You were delighted to see he was your judge,” Machen said.
In addition to his wife, children and brother, Bicket is also survived by his granddaughter, Artemis; and two nieces.
Visitation will be from 2 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Slater Funeral Home at 1650 Greentree Road.