EAST COBB - Debra Halpern Bernes, a judge on the Georgia Court of Appeals, died Tuesday afternoon after a long battle with cancer. She was 54.

Judge Bernes, the daughter of Alvin and Sherry Halpern, grew up in Atlanta and was a 1973 graduate of Grady High School, where she was a cheerleader.

She earned a bachelor's degree in education at the University of Florida, and then graduated from law school there in 1978. Next, she began a 20-year career as a prosecutor in the Cobb District Attorney's office.

Later, Judge Bernes had a private law practice in Marietta before campaigning for a seat on the state Court of Appeals in 2004. It was an unusual election - one for which voters went to the polls three different times in a five-month span. But each time, Judge Bernes was the top vote-getter in a race that started with six candidates.

She ultimately won the seat in a runoff on Nov. 23, 2004, when she took 54 percent of the statewide vote over Atlanta attorney Howard Mead, who garnered 46 percent. Mead reported spending at least $3.2 million on the campaign, compared to Bernes' $504,000, according to news accounts from that time.

"Debbie is just like a fireball. She was one of the most incredible, fearless fighters in the DA's office," said Superior Court Judge Stephen Schuster, who, like Judge Bernes, grew up in Atlanta's tight-knit Jewish community. "Debbie was undeterred. She knew she didn't have the money of some other candidates, but she knew she could divide and connect with people in communities across the state. She and her daughter, Lanie, packed up the car and tackled this race. And her mom had a victory cake that she made and she kept getting it out and then had to keep putting it in the refrigerator."

Debra Halpern and Gary Bernes were married at Ahavath Achim Synagogue in Atlanta on Dec. 27, 1980.

"They knew each other from high school and my dad always says she was the pretty cheerleader," said their daughter, Lane, 26. "Then they reconnected when my mom was an ADA (assistant district attorney). My mother's mother and my aunt, Janet Sunshine, convinced my dad to call my mom and he did. Dad says it was love at first sight."

The Bernes family also belongs to Congregation Etz Chaim synagogue in east Cobb, where the Olens family also belongs.

"Debra was always very much a glass half-full person," said Sam Olens, former Cobb County Board Of Commissioners chairman. "Even when she was not feeling good, she would always smile, and she was always optimistic. She is a very classy lady."

Longtime friend Nancy Ingram Jordan met Judge Bernes in the 1980s, when both worked in the District Attorney's appellate division office.

"We grew up together in the DA's office," said Jordan, who is now president of the Cobb Bar Association. Bernes was the group's president in 2003. "She was just a delightful person to be around. She was caring and giving and smart as a whip."

On Monday, Jordan and the Cobb Bar Association established the Judge Debra Halpern Bernes Scholarship Fund for students studying law at one of Georgia's two public law schools.

"She was aware we had created this before she passed away, and she was very proud," Jordan said.

Memorial donations may be made to the Judge Debra Halpern Bernes Scholarship, c/o Cobb Bar Association; Cobb Superior Court Building; 30 Waddell St., Suite 601; Marietta, 30090. For more information, contact Linda C. Hill, executive director of the bar association at (770) 424-7149 or linda@cobbcounty bar.org

Judge Bernes is survived by her husband, Gary; daughter Lane, 26, of Manhattan, N.Y.; son Matthew, 23, of east Cobb; her parents; her sister, Gail Holzer, and Holzer's husband, Gil; her brothers Marty Halpern and his wife, Lisa, and Jay Halpern and his wife, Barbara; her mother-in-law, Florence Bernes; her sister-in-law Myra Bernes; her brother-in-law Sandy Bernes and his wife, Jane; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Services for Judge Bernes will be conducted at the Ahavath Achim Synagogue , 600 Peachtree Battle Ave. in Atlanta at 10 a.m. Thursday.