By Allan Lengel

WASHINGTON — There’s longevity on the job, and then there’s John “Jack” C. Keeney.

On Friday, the Justice Department held a retirement ceremony to mark the end of his 59-year career as the longest serving federal prosecutor in U.S. history.

According to a Justice Department account of the event, as Keeney “walked on stage at 3:09 p.m., the sea of Justice Department employees past and present leapt to their feet and did not stop applauding for a full minute. Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer set the tone for what he called a ‘remarkable’ day and an historic Justice Department ‘homecoming’.”