Home County: St. Louis City
Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: April 1955– March 1970
Judge Clem F. Storckman was born March 8, 1899, in Lawrence County, Illinois.[i] He was educated in the public schools of Mount Carmel, Illinois, before going to the University of Illinois for his undergraduate years.[ii] He attended the University of Michigan Law School and received his law degree in 1922.[iii]
On January 3, 1923, Storckman was admitted to The Missouri Bar and entered the private practice of law in St. Louis.[iv] Throughout his career, Storckman was a member of various professional legal organizations, such as Delta Theta Phi legal fraternity, and held leadership roles within them.[v] He was a member of The Missouri Bar and a member of its board of governors from 1947 to 1949.[vi] From 1947 to 1952, he was a member of the bar committee of the then-Eighth Judicial Circuit (now known as the Twenty-Second).[vii] Afterward, he became the president of the Bar Association of St. Louis from 1952 to 1953.[viii] Storckman was also a member of the American Bar Association as well as a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.[ix] He later became a member of the American Judicature Society and served on its board of directors from 1968 until his death.[x]
In addition to his legal involvement, Storckman held other leadership roles. During Missouri’s Constitutional Convention from 1943 to 1944, he was a delegate to help draft the constitution voters adopted in 1945.[xi] He also sat on the board of freeholders from 1949 to 1950 to draft a new charter for the city of St. Louis.[xii] He was elected November 18, 1966, to the Missouri Academy of Squires.[xiii] He continued to serve his community and practice law privately in St. Louis until his appointment to the Supreme Court of Missouri.[xiv]
Then-Missouri Governor Phil M. Donnelly appointed Storckman as judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri on April 29, 1955, to succeed Judge Ernest Moss Tipton, who died during his term.[xv] Storckman was retained for an additional term during the 1956 general election and again in 1968.[xvi] He served as the chief justice from April 1965 through June 1967.[xvii] Storckman’s second term was set to expire December 31, 1980, [xviii] but he died during his term on March 16, 1970.[xix]
[i] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1966), 217. See also: St. Louis Daily Record Staff, “Portraits of Former Justices Douglas and Storckman to Be Presented April 14 In Division One,” St. Louis Daily Record, (St. Louis, MO), April 7, 1977.
[ii] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1966), 217.
[iii] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1966), 217. See also: St. Louis Daily Record Staff, “Portraits of Former Justices Douglas and Storckman to Be Presented April 14 In Division One,” St. Louis Daily Record, (St. Louis, MO), April 7, 1977.
[iv] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1966), 217.
[v] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1966), 217.
[vi] Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1959-1960, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1960), 209.
[vii] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1966), 217. See also: “St. Louis Circuit Court,” Missouri Courts website, accessed on February 19, 2019, available from https://www.courts.mo.gov/mcw/findacourt/getCountyCourtData.htm
[viii] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1967-1968, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1968), 199.
[ix] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1967-1968, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1968), 199.
[x] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1969-1970, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1970), 203.
[xi] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1966), 217.
[xii] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1969-1970, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1970), 203.
[xiii] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1969-1970, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1970), 203.
[xiv] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1966), 217.
[xv] St. Louis Daily Record Staff, “Portraits of Former Justices Douglas and Storckman to Be Presented April 14 In Division One,” St. Louis Daily Record, (St. Louis, MO), April 7, 1977.
[xvi] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1969-1970, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1970), 203.
[xvii] St. Louis Daily Record Staff, “Portraits of Former Justices Douglas and Storckman to Be Presented April 14 In Division One,” St. Louis Daily Record, (St. Louis, MO), April 7, 1977.
[xviii] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1969-1970, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1970), 203.
[xix] St. Louis Daily Record Staff, “Portraits of Former Justices Douglas and Storckman to Be Presented April 14 In Division One,” St. Louis Daily Record, (St. Louis), April 7, 1977. See also: Storckman, Clem F. (1899-1970), Papers, 1943-1950, C 3602, collection available from The State Historical Society-Columbia, accessed on March 12, 2019, available from https://whmc.umsystem.edu Paper copy of document in permanent file in law library.
Biographical information authored by Ms. Chloe Shoemaker, 2019, University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri.