Paul C. Gartzke

Paul Coulter Gartzke (October 6, 1927 - September 25, 2009) was a Presiding Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.

Gartzke was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and graduated from Shorewood High School in Shorewood, Wisconsin before attending Milwaukee State Teachers College, the University of Iowa, Harvard Law School and the University of Virginia School of Law. During World War II, he enlisted in the United States Navy.

Gartzke worked with a private law firm, where he eventually became partner, in Madison, Wisconsin, until his election to the Court of Appeals in 1978. He was a Presiding Judge during his entire tenure until his retirement from full-time duty in 1996, after which he remained a reserve judge.

He was married to German immigrant Waltraud Emilie Dorothea Denker. They had three children, two of whom followed their father into law.