Columbus, Ohio (AP) -- J. Craig Wright, a justice on the Ohio Supreme Court from 1985 to 1996, has died. He was 80.

A spokesman for the court said Wright died Wednesday in Palm Springs, Calif., where he had a condo. A cause of death wasn't immediately released.

Wright, a republican, defeated incumbent justice James Celebrezze in 1984 to win election to his first term and was re-elected in 1990.

He retired after his second term.

Wright was known for his opposition to the death penalty, a rare position for a member of his party.

In 2004, then-Gov. Bob Taft appointed Wright to the state chemical dependency professionals board.

Chief justice Thomas Moyer said Wright was an extraordinary jurist and that his work in the field of alcohol and chemical addiction improved the lives of hundreds of people.

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