Home County: St. Louis city
Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: January 1935-September 1935
Judge Walter DeRosset Coles was born January 6, 1868, in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Coles attended the University of Virginia from 1887 to 1888. He then attended Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, graduating with his law degree (LL. B.) in 1889. After passing the bar that same year, Coles worked as an assistant United States district attorney from 1894 until 1898.
Coles was appointed July 1, 1898, as the United State referee in bankruptcy for the Eastern District in St. Louis. He served for more than 35 years in that position. Cole also served as the third vice-president of a Referees in Bankruptcy national organization, which predated the National Association of Referees in Bankruptcy, which formed in 1926. During his career as a referee, he administered more than 700 bankruptcies. During that time, Coles was also a guest lecturer at Washington University in St. Louis from 1904 to 1910. He was a member of the St. Louis Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Coles resigned as the referee in bankruptcy on February 1, 1934, to work in private practice.
Coles worked in private practice until January 5, 1935, when then-Governor Guy Brasfield Park appointed him to the Supreme Court of Missouri to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge John T. Fitzsimmons, a former commissioner with the Court, who died just four days after his election to a 10-year term as a judge of the Court. Coles took the oath of office on January 7, 1935. He was to serve with the Court until the November 1936 general election but resigned September 1, 1935 – after serving eight months with the Court – due to ill health.
Judge Walter D. Coles died July 16, 1936, in Richmond, Virginia. He was 68 years old.
Biographical information by Dylan Powers-Cody, 2024, Truman State University.
Sources used (a copy of each is on file at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library):
Associated Press, “Judge Walter D. Coles Dies in Richmond, Va., Long in Failing Health,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, (St. Louis, MO), July 17, 1936, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed February 23, 2024.
Associated Press, “St. Louisan Gets State Court Post,” The Springfield News-Leader, (Springfield, Missouri), January 6, 1935, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed February 23, 2024.
“Became Nationally Known as Authority on Bankruptcy Law,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, (St. Louis, Missouri), July 17, 1936, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed February 23, 2024.
“Coles Sworn in Supreme Judge,” Jefferson City Post-Tribune, (Jefferson City, Missouri), January 7, 1935, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed on February 23, 2024.
Dwight H. Brown, compiler, Dwight H Brown, Secretary of State, “In Memoriam John T. Fitzsimmons,” State of Missouri Official Manual, For Years Nineteen Thirty-Five and Nineteen Thirty-Six, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1936), 125 and 129.
Herbert M. Bierce, Secretary, “Official Proceedings of the National Conference,” Journal of the National Association of Referees in Bankruptcy, vol. 1, no. 1, December 1926, (Winona, MN: Publication of the National Association of Referees in Bankruptcy, 1926), title page, 69, 89, information courtesy of Google Books, accessed February 23, 2024.
John Turner White, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Between July 9, 1935 and December 18, 1935, vol. 337 (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co., 1936), xi.
Paul Barringer, James Mercer Garnett, and Rosewell Page, editorial staff, “Walter DeRosset Coles,” University of Virginia It’s History, Influence, Equipment and Characteristics with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Founders, Benefactors, Officers, and Alumni, vol. II, (New York, NY: Lewis Publishing Company, 1904), 272, information courtesy of Google Books, accessed February 23, 2024.
Shannon County Democrat, (Winona, Missouri), July 30, 1936, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed on February 23, 2024.
University of Virginia Editorial Committee, Alumni Bulletin of the University of Virginia, third Series, vol. xiv, (Charlottesville, VA: The University of Virginia Press, 1921, 41, information courtesy of Google Books, accessed February 23, 2024.
“Walter D. Coles to Be Named to Supreme Court Bench Monday,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, (St. Louis, Missouri), January 6, 1935, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed February 23, 2024.
“Walter DeRosset Coles,” issue date of July 10, 1913, U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 Collection, information courtesy of the Ancestry.com website, accessed February 27, 2024.