In a wheelchair with his body ravaged by illness, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Julio Jimenez completed his most important legal duty Friday. He whispered the first few lines of the Florida attorney’s oath and swore in his son as a new lawyer.

Three days later, after a seven-month struggle with liver cancer, Jimenez died.

He was 58, and a loyal follower of the legal profession.

“I believe he was waiting to be able to swear in his son before he died,” said his best friend, Carl Kafka, his former law partner. “He was holding on to that.”

Said son Carlos Jimenez, 29, a new associate attorney at Silva & Silva in Miami, where his father swore him in: “His job as a father was complete there. He loved this profession and he still considers it an honorable profession. I know he’s very proud that I followed in his footsteps.”

A longtime defense lawyer, Julio Jimenez was appointed to the circuit bench in 2003, starting out in the juvenile division before heading to the criminal division — where he spent most of his tenure presiding over defendants charged with felonies. He transferred to the court’s family division in January 2011. In July, he was diagnosed with cancer.

Colleagues recalled Jimenez as an extremely active judge — he loved presiding over trials — who was tough in sentencing convicted violent felons but fair and knowledgeable of the law.

“He was a smart man. He had common sense, which is something that is not common today,” said Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jorge Cueto. “He was decisive. He was what I wanted to be when I became a judge.”

Said 11th Circuit Chief Judge Joel Brown: “Judge Jimenez was one of our most well-respected judges. He had a reputation for hard work, fairness and integrity, and he will be missed by his colleagues and the public that he served.”

Jimenez was born in Matanzas, Cuba, in March 1953. Eight years later, he and his sister came to Florida as part of the Pedro Pan program that ferried youngsters out of the Communist island.

His parents and two brothers later joined him in the United States, where they moved to Chicago. Jimenez grew up there, attending the University of Illinois and earning his law degree from DePaul University.

He came to Miami in 1980, where he served as a private defense attorney and met his wife, Lili Jimenez, who worked at the court house as a Spanish-language interpreter.

As a defense lawyer, Jimenez partnered with courtroom legend Sy Gaer for two years. Later, he partnered with Kafka in private practice.

On the bench, Jimenez was not afraid to make tough decisions.

In December 2004, Jimenez threw out a vehicular homicide charge against a former Miami-Dade police officer accused of running down a pedestrian while responding to a call. Two years later, he sternly ordered the Department of Children & Families to treat a mentally ill inmate who had been denied bed space at a state hospital — the man later gouged out his own eyes.

“I’m not telling you how to do your job,” Jimenez told a DCF lawyer. “I’m telling you to do your job.”

At sentencings, Jimenez did not hesitate to mete out stiff prison terms, especially for violent offenders. He sentenced North Dade rapist Sedrick Williams to six consecutive life terms after convictions in 2007. Two years later, he sentenced a man to life in prison for slashing Miami officer Andres Dominguez from ear to chin, shooting at other cops and wrecking a patrol car.

Anything less “would be like me getting up and going over to Officer Dominguez and re-attacking him and slapping him in the face, “ Jimenez said at sentencing.

But Jimenez was also practical, pushing for plea deals in cases that he thought should be resolved before trial.

“He was able to differentiate in every serious case between the very bad defendant who needed to be punished and the young offender who made a mistake and had a future,” Kafka said. ‘And he hated violent offenders, even when he was a defense lawyer.”

Judge Jimenez is survived by his wife, Lili, and his children Carlos, Katia, and Lisa, as well as his brother, Fernando Jimenez, and sister, Sarah Ringler.

A service will be held Tuesday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Maspons Funeral Home, 3500 SW 8th St. A memorial Mass will take place Wednesday at Church of the Little Flower, in Coral Gables.