A compassionate mentor. A fierce advocate. A tireless community champion who dedicated her life to making our corner of the world safer, healthier and stronger.

Those are just some of the accolades used Sunday to describe Judy Wang, 57, a prosecutor in the Missoula city attorney's office who died unexpectedly over the weekend when a driver who smelled of alcohol crashed into her car and caused it to roll on Interstate 90 near Anaconda.

Wang, said those who knew her well, viewed justice with a capital J, and she applied that perspective in her daily work as a tenacious attorney who helped create legislation to strengthen the laws that protect victims of domestic violence.

"Her death is such a shock to all of us," said Cindy Weese, executive director of the YWCA. "She was our expert and our greatest advocate for policy around victims and domestic violence.

"Not only was she a mentor to me, but she had an incredible impact on everyone working in this field statewide - she was a teacher to us all."

Wang's sudden death leaves an immeasurable void on many levels.

"She was so inspiring," said Cynthia Ford, a law professor at the University of Montana School of Law. "Judy was just totally committed to helping the people who were affected by domestic violence and she was totally committed to young law students.

"There are just a handful of attorneys who have walked the walk of public service, and Judy did that day in and day out," Ford said. "Every day, she woke up and and did it again with the same amount of commitment as she did the day before."

Missoula Mayor John Engen described Wang as passionate and tough, and relentless in her pursuit of justice.

That she did so for more than 23 years was particularly stunning, Engen said.

"The thing that I admired about Judy - and all our law enforcement folk and folks in crime victims services - is that they see the underbelly of our place every day and they keep showing up for it, and they keep trying to fix it," he said. "In her more than 20 years as a city attorney, Judy saw more than her share of evil and cruelty and violence, but she didn't give up the fight.

"That's awfully impressive. Folks in that line of work sacrifice a lot for the rest of us, and Judy did that."

Not only did she bring an intense focus and sense of purpose to her job, but Wang, who was a nurse before she became an attorney, also brought a keen sense of compassion.

In cases where domestic violence led to homicides, Wang made sure the victims were never forgotten in any of the discussions. She did so by making sure photos of the dead were front and center, and that their lives were remembered throughout the process.

When the YWCA held fundraising events for its domestic violence programs, Wang was there, shoulder-to-shoulder with staff members managing daylong garage sales and donating valuable antiques for auctions.

She was more than a sponsor of Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Missoula. She rolled up her sleeves and was a big sister to a young girl for many years.

At the UM Law School, she gave up her nights to teach, and she held the title of the longest-serving evening instructor in the trial advocacy program.

David Steele, a 2008 UM law graduate, said Wang always took the time to mentor and talk to students. Despite her overwhelming caseload, she stopped what she was doing to help the young interns who came to work with her in the city attorney's office.

"She was an extraordinary teacher," Steele said. "She had an extraordinary amount of cases, yet she still had time talk with you, teach you, and point you in the right direction."

"I found that remarkable, and the time she did spend with you was invaluable," he said. "She was a straight shooter who played by the rules, and her integrity was really an inspiration."

Colleagues in the legal profession were always amazed by Wang's seemingly tireless dedication to the daily grind of local court.

"It's amazing somebody like her was satisfied with the stuff you deal with in municipal court," said Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg. "In the county attorney's office, you have a sense of working on bigger things like rapes, murder and serious assault, and I think most attorneys would prefer that to the misdemeanor work.

"Yet Judy made a career of working on the day-to-day stuff the average person is working on."

It was in the realm of domestic violence where Wang took in the larger picture, said Karen Townsend, a longtime friend and colleague.

"She would see where laws needed to be changed and then she would help draft legislation and lobby to make sure those changes went through," Townsend said. "The kind of legislation she helped get through is significant."

Her effort was so outstanding, in 2004 the Montana attorney general's office, the state bar association and the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence presented Wang with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Only time will measure the full force of Wang's absence, but her death is already keenly mourned.

"She was such a good person and such an extraordinary community member," Weese said. "Her body of knowledge and expertise around domestic violence is unmatched and we are left with a huge void we aren't going to be able to fill.

"She was our greatest advocate, and we, like so many others, are devastated by her loss."

Reporter Betsy Cohen can be reached at 523-5253 or at bcohen@missoulian.com.