Education
University of Southern California. University of Michigan Law School.
University of Southern California. University of Michigan Law School.
Born in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, Nygaard received a Bachelor of Surgery cum laude from the University of Southern California in 1969 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1971. He was a Petty Officer Second Class in the United States. Naval Reserve from 1958 to 1964. He was in private practice in North East, Pennsylvania from 1972 to 1980.
He was a judge on the Court of Common Pleas, Sixth District of Pennsylvania, Erie, Pennsylvania from 1981 to 1988.
Nygaard is a Senior Federal Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Judge Nygaard was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on May 25, 1988, to a seat vacated when Joseph Francis Weis, Junior. assumed Senior Status.
He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 14, 1988, and received his commission on October 17, 1988. He assumed senior status on July 9, 2005.