Home County: Laclede
Term of Service on the Supreme Court of Missouri: August 1965 – January 1988
Robert True Donnelly was born August 31, 1924, in Lebanon, Missouri.[i] He was raised in Republic, Missouri, and Coffeyville, Kansas, before his family settled in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[ii] Donnelly graduated from Tulsa Central High School in 1942[iii] and enrolled at the University of Tulsa, during the fall of 1942, to study engineering.[iv] With the nation’s involvement in World War II, Donnelly left the university to join the United States Army in spring 1943,[v] continuing his college education through the Army Specialized Training Program at Ohio State University.[vi] After ending his military service, Donnelly returned to Missouri and began classes at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law,[vii] earning his law degree in 1949.[viii]
Donnelly was admitted to the Missouri bar on December 10, 1949,[ix] and began his career practicing in Greenfield, Missouri.[x] In 1951, Donnelly moved to Springfield, where he worked for MFA Mutual.[xi] In 1952, Donnelly’s uncle, a former Missouri governor, Phil Donnelly, decided to run for another term as governor, and asked his nephew to tend to the family’s law firm.[xii] Robert Donnelly agreed, returning to Lebanon, Missouri, to practice law with his uncle and his cousin, David Donnelly.[xiii] Robert Donnelly also served as the Lebanon city attorney from 1954 to 1955[xiv] and as a special assistant attorney general from 1957 to 1963.[xv]
Donnelly continued to practice law in Lebanon [xvi] until August 24, 1965, when then-Governor Warren E. Hearnes appointed him to the Supreme Court of Missouri.[xvii] Donnelly became a judge of the court on September 7, 1965.[xviii] He was retained by the voters of Missouri twice, in 1966 and 1978.[xix] He also served as chief justice twice, from July 1973 through June 1975 and from July 1981 through January 1983.[xx] He authored 546 opinions while on the Supreme Court of Missouri.[xxi] Donnelly served until January 1, 1989, when he retired from the court.[xxii]
Donnelly was a member of the honorary legal society Phi Delta Phi.[xxiii] He served on The Missouri Bar’s Board of Governors from 1957 to 1963[xxiv] and with the Bar Committee of the 26th Judicial Circuit from 1956 to 1965.[xxv] Donnelly was a past member of the Board of Trustees at Drury College in Springfield.[xxvi] In 1998, he published an autobiography, titled A Whistle in the Night.[xxvii]
Robert True Donnelly died June 16, 1999, at the age of 74, in Jefferson City.[xxviii]
[i] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1966), 229.
[ii] Robert T. Donnelly, A Whistle in the Night (Jefferson City, MO: Modern Litho-Print Co., 1998), 4-5. Publication available at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[iii] Robert T. Donnelly, A Whistle in the Night (Jefferson City, MO: Modern Litho-Print Co., 1998), 10. Publication available at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[iv] Robert T. Donnelly, A Whistle in the Night (Jefferson City, MO: Modern Litho-Print Co., 1998), 10. Publication available at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[v] Robert T. Donnelly, A Whistle in the Night (Jefferson City, MO: Modern Litho-Print Co., 1998), 10. Publication available at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[vi] Robert T. Donnelly, A Whistle in the Night (Jefferson City, MO: Modern Litho-Print Co., 1998), 12. Publication located in the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[vii] Robert T. Donnelly, A Whistle in the Night (Jefferson City, MO: Modern Litho-Print Co., 1998), 45. Publication available at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[viii]James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1966), 229. See also: Robert T. Donnelly, A Whistle in the Night (Jefferson City, MO: Modern Litho-Print Co., 1998), 47. Publication available at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[ix] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1966), 229.
[x] Robert T. Donnelly, A Whistle in the Night (Jefferson City, MO: Modern Litho-Print Co., 1998), 47. Publication available at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xi] Robert T. Donnelly, A Whistle in the Night (Jefferson City, MO: Modern Litho-Print Co., 1998), 49. Publication available at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xii] Robert T. Donnelly, A Whistle in the Night (Jefferson City, MO: Modern Litho-Print Co., 1998), 49. Publication available at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xiii] Robert T. Donnelly, A Whistle in the Night (Jefferson City, MO: Modern Litho-Print Co., 1998), 49. Publication available at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xiv] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1975-1976, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1976), 202.
[xv] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1966), 229.
[xvi] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1966), 229.
[xvii] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1966), 229.
[xviii] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1966), 229.
[xix] Roy Blunt, Secretary of State, Steven N. Ahrens, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1987-1988, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1988), 197.
[xx] Roy Blunt, Secretary of State, Steven N. Ahrens, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1987-1988, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1988), 197.
[xxi] Robert T. Donnelly, A Whistle in the Night (Jefferson City, MO: Modern Litho-Print Co., 1998), appendix, 103. Publication available at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xxii] Robert T. Donnelly, A Whistle in the Night (Jefferson City, MO: Modern Litho-Print Co., 1998), 78. Publication available at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xxiii] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1966), 229
[xxiv] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1975-1976, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1976), 202
[xxv] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1966), 229
[xxvi] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Office of the Secretary of State, 1966), 229.
[xxvii] Robert T. Donnelly, A Whistle in the Night (Jefferson City, MO: Modern Litho-Print Co., 1998), title page. Publication available at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xxviii] E.A. Richter, ed., “Obituaries, Robert True Donnelly: 1924-1999,” The Missouri Supreme Court Historical Journal, Vol. 7, No. 2, (August 1999), 5.
Biographical information by James Anderson, 2018, University of Missouri-Columbia.