Home County: Jasper
Term of Service on the Supreme Court of Missouri: January 1967 – December 1982
Judge Robert Eldridge Seiler was born December 5, 1912, in Kansas City, Kansas.[i] He was educated in the public schools of Chillicothe in Livingston County, Missouri.[ii] Seiler continued his education at the University of Missouri, graduating in 1933 with a bachelor of arts degree and in 1935 with a bachelor of law degree.[iii] He was a member of the Order of the Coif[iv] and QEBH honor society, as well as the University of Missouri Law Review.[v] Seiler was admitted to the Missouri Bar in 1934.[vi] In 1977, he received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Culver-Stockton College.[vii]
Seiler began to practice law in Joplin, Missouri, in June 1935.[viii] In January 1942, he formed the firm of Seiler, Blanchard & Van Fleet in Joplin and practiced there for 31 years, until he took his oath of office as a judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri.[ix] He served as a city attorney for Joplin from 1950 to 1954.[x] Seiler also served on the state board of law examiners from 1948 to 1965, as its secretary from 1950 to 1963, and as its president from 1963 to 1965.[xi]
In November 1966, Governor Warren E. Hearnes appointed Seiler to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court of Missouri.[xii] Judge Seiler joined the Court January 3, 1967.[xiii] He was elected to serve as the Court’s chief justice from July 1975 through June 1977.[xiv] Judge Seiler was retained by the people of the state of Missouri twice, for 12-year terms each, in 1968 and again in 1980.[xv] Seiler retired from the Court December 5, 1982, after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.[xvi]
During his lifetime, Judge Seiler was a member of The Missouri Bar; the American Bar Association; the Jasper County Bar Association (president 1965-66); the American Judicature Society; a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers; a trustee of the Law School Foundation at the University of Missouri; president of the Missouri Law School Alumni Association; and a member of the National Conference of Bar Examiners.[xvii] On September 24, 1982, Judge Seiler was presented with the prestigious Herbert Harley Award by the American Judicature Society.[xviii] Seiler was also the recipient of the ACLU Civil Liberty Award.[xix] In 1995, Judge Seiler established a scholarship fund for full-time law students at the University of Missouri.[xx]
Judge Robert Eldridge Seiler died April 13, 1998, at the age of 85, in Joplin.[xxi]
[i] Debby Woodin, “Retired Missouri chief justice dies”, The Joplin Globe, Tuesday, April 14, 1998.
[ii] Woodin, “Retired Missouri chief justice dies.”
[iii] James C. Kirkpatrick and Thelma P. Goodwin, ed. Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1967-1968 (Published by the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office and Printed by Von Hoffmann Companies: Jefferson City, MO, 1968) 202.
[iv] Kirkpatrick and Goodwin, ed. Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1967-1968, 202.
[v] Post-Tribune Staff, “Obituaries, Seiler,” News Tribune, Tuesday, April 14, 1998.
[vi] Barry E. Katz, “Interview with Robert Seiler, Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court,” Governmental Affairs Newsletter, ed. Richard R. Dohm, University of Missouri-Columbia, MO, Vol. XI, Issue #3, November 1976, 12.
[vii] Post-Tribune Staff, “Obituaries, Seiler.”
[viii] The Joplin Globe Staff, “Retired Judge Praises Successor,” The Joplin Globe, Friday, December 17, 1982.
[ix] The Joplin Globe Staff, “Retired Judge Praises Successor.”
[x] Kirkpatrick and Goodwin, ed. Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1967-1968, 202.
[xi] Kirkpatrick and Goodwin, ed. Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1967-1968, 202.
[xii] Woodin, “Retired Missouri chief justice dies.”
[xiii] Woodin, “Retired Missouri chief justice dies.” See also: Kirkpatrick and Goodwin, ed. Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1967-1968, 202.
[xiv] Tracy M. Synan, Communications Counsel, “Judge Robert E. Seiler Memorial and Portrait Presentation,” Clerk of the Supreme Court, State of Missouri, Media Advisory, March 23, 2000.
[xv] The Joplin Globe Staff, “Retired Judge Praises Successor.”
[xvi] Ron Ostroff, “Missouri’s high court facing major change,” The Kansas City Times, Friday, June 11, 1982.
[xvii] Post-Tribune Staff, “Obituaries, Seiler.”
[xviii] Thomas F. Simon, Clerk, “Robert E. Seiler to receive American Judicature Society Herbert Harley Award.” Press Release, September 21, 1982.
[xix] Post-Tribune Staff, “Obituaries, Seiler.”
[xx] Woodin, “Retired Missouri chief justice dies.”
[xxi] Woodin, “Retired Missouri chief justice dies.” See also: Post-Tribune Staff, “Obituaries, Seiler.”
Biographical information authored by Megan Vancil, 2018, University of Missouri-Columbia.