Judge Richard B. “Rick” Teitelman was born September 25, 1947, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the age of 13, he was declared legally blind. School officials wanted to send him to a school specifically for the blind, but his family insisted he attend public school. Teitelman did attend public schools and a magnet high school offering specialized courses in science and math. By the time he graduated, he had completed numerous undergraduate math courses before entering college. 

Teitelman attended the University of Pennsylvania, majored in mathematics, and graduated with a bachelor of arts in 1969. He then attended Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, where he earned his law degree in 1973. Teitelman was one of the first students who was visually challenged to attend the law school. While there, he was a law honor student and was a member of the Law Review. In 2002 to 2003, he served as a jurist in residence, mentoring students and holding small group discussions about the role of the judiciary and judicial decision making. 

After completing law school, Teitelman maintained a solo law practice from 1974 to 1975. In June 1975, he began his career at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri as a staff attorney with the consumer unit. In November 1976, he became a managing attorney, serving in that position until 1980. He became executive director and general counsel in April 1980 and served in that position for 18 years until he was appointed to the Missouri Court of Appeals. 

In 1998, Governor Mel Carnahan appointed Teitelman to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, where he served from 1998 to 2002. On February 22, 2002, Governor Bob Holden appointed Judge Teitelman to the Supreme Court of Missouri. When he was sworn in, he paraphrased Helen Keller in speaking with the crowd: “For a committed life, one has to have fidelity to a noble purpose, and for me, that purpose has been the fight for justice.” He served as Missouri’s chief justice from July 2011 through June 2013. He was retained by the people of the state in 2004, for a 12-year term, and retained again, shortly before his death, in November 2016, for another 12-year term. Judge Teitelman was the first individual of Jewish descent to serve with the Supreme Court of Missouri and the first legally blind state Supreme Court judge in the United States. 

Teitelman was an active member of numerous professional organizations and activities, including: The Missouri Bar, American Bar Association, the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, Conference of Chief Justices, Judicial Conference of Missouri, the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, Cole County Bar Association, Lawyers Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, the American Blind Lawyers Association, National Italian-American Bar Association, American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, Hispanic Bar Association of St. Louis, Supreme Court of Missouri Advisory Committee, Institute of Judicial Administration of New York University, Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association, Mound City Bar Association, National Legal Aid and Defenders Association, Eighth Circuit Bar Association, National Conference of Bar Presidents and the National Conference of Bar Foundations. 

Teitelman’s service with The Missouri Bar included serving as president-elect; vice president; chair of the disabled, minority, and diversity law committee; and member of the young lawyers’ section; chair of the delivery of legal services committee; and a member of both the board of governors and its executive committee. He was a member of the lawyers division of the National Federation of the Blind. Teitelman was a chair of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Commission on Mental and Physical Disabilities Law and was an executive committee member and vice president of the American Judicature Society. 

Teitelman was recognized for his contributions in society through numerous awards, achievements, and honors. Washington University’s law school awarded him the Founders Day Distinguished Alumni Award in 2002, the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1999, and inducted him as an honorary member of the Order of the Coif in 1996. From Saint Louis University School of Law, he was awarded the Clarance Darrow Award in 2009 and the Prestigious Honorary Dean Award. The University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law awarded Teitelman with the Distinguished Non-Alumni Award. In September 2003, Teitelman was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from The St. Louis Society for the Blind and Visually Impaired. In 2003, he was also selected as one of 40 professionals to attend the prestigious Toll Fellowship Program from the Council for State Governments. 

Some of his additional awards include: The Missouri Bar’s President’s Award and Spurgeon Smithson Award, the American Bar Association’s Make a Difference Award, the St. Louis County Bar Association’s Dudley C. Dunlop Distinguished Service Award, the Mound City Bar Association’s Legal Service Award, the Democracy in Action Award from the American Jewish Congress, the Hodson Award for Public Service from the ABA Division of Government and Public Sector Lawyers, and the Good Guy Award from the Women’s Legal Caucus. He was awarded Missouri’s Best Supreme Court Judge by Missouri Lawyers Weekly in 2008. In 2016 he was awarded posthumously, Lawyer of the Year 2017 by Missouri Lawyers Weekly. 

After his death, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri created the Richard B. Teitelman Fund, which supports the hiring of a new position at the organization. Saint Louis University Law School and Washington University Law School each established funds in honor of Judge Teitelman. 

Judge Richard B. Teitelman died November 29, 2016, at his home in the Central West End of St. Louis, causing the Court to cancel oral arguments scheduled for that day. He was 69 years old.

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Charles Emerick, “Annual Meeting celebrates 50 years of integration,” The Daily Record, November 2008.

Cindi Lash, “Leftover class-action funds will honor Teitelman, aid students and the poor,” Missouri Lawyers Weekly, Thursday, March 1, 2018.

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Donna Walter and Scott Lauck, “From the Archives: Chief Justice Teitelman wins over critics with work ethic, brains, and personality.” Missouri Lawyers Weekly, November 29, 2016, Story originally published on September 6, 2011.

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Washington University, “In Memoriam. The Honorable Richard B. Teitelman, Missouri Supreme Court Judge and WashULaw Alumnus,” Washington University School of Law Website, accessed on June 21, 2018.