Warren "Duke" Rudolph Henry Albrecht Jr.

Warren R. H. “Duke” Albrecht Jr. passed away on 28 January after a long illness. He leaves his wife, Diana, and two children: a son, Dr. Warren E. Albrecht III (Michelle), and a daughter, Dr. Nikki Albrecht, and grandchildren, Alexis and Maxwell. He also leaves his brother, Kent Albrecht, his sister, Rebecca Brewer, and sister-in-law, Deborah Albrecht. He was preceded in death by brother, Scott; his father, Warren H. Albrecht Sr. and his mother, Eileen.

Duke graduated from Bismarck High School in 1962, where he was captain of the football and track teams. Duke won an appointment from his North Dakota Congressman to the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, where he reached the highest rank of Cadet Captain and Company Commander, and graduated in 1966. Duke truly lived the cadet honor code – a cadet will not lie, cheat, or steal – and it was in the area of ethical behavior that he truly excelled.

After graduating in 1966, Duke attended Ranger School at Fort Benning, GA, and was deployed to the war in Vietnam, where he would assume the dual principal duties of a platoon leader in combat – perform the mission and take care of your men. Duke cared most of all about his men. He was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in combat against a hostile force and a Purple Heart from injuries, which ended his military career on the battlefield.

He married his high school sweetheart, Diana Ode, and, after serving as an instructor at the Army Ranger School at Fort Benning, GA, he was Honorably discharged and came home to the University of North Dakota School of Law. He practiced law as an attorney in Bismarck, North Dakota at Fleck, Mather, Strutz and Mayer. He was elected and served as president of the Bismarck School Board. He coached little league football for several years, and earned a 2nd degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. He was very involved in the ND Republican Party. Duke was the District 47 chairman, a delegate to the state convention numerous times and was nominated to represent the party for Attorney General in 1992. He loved music and sang in Republican Women’s fashion shows and the Bismarck Oktoberfest pageant. He was appointed a Circuit Court Judge, before later returning to the practice of law in Fargo while recouping from a stem cell transplant for amyloidosis. He finished his career as an Administrative Judge for the Federal Energy Regulatory Administration in Washington, DC and then the Social Security Administration in the Billings, MT and then Fargo, ND offices. He was an avid outdoorsman raising his children with boating, fishing and hunting. He wrote and self published two books, Some Damned Fool and Neither Children Nor Gods. With his hearing gone and sight going, he tried his hand at painting.