10 September 2002

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Supreme Court of Missouri administered the oath of office as a Supreme Court judge to Richard B. Teitelman at 3 p.m. this afternoon. Chief Justice Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. presided over the formal ceremony in the Supreme Court's en banc courtroom in Jefferson City.

Sixteen people, including Rep. Robert Hilgemann, former St. Louis Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr., Labor and Industrial Relations Commissioner David Klarich, and two former presidents of The Missouri Bar -- Doreen Dodson and Ronald Mitchell -- spoke to a courtroom full of friends and well-wishers. Two of Teitelman's former colleagues on the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, also gave remarks: Chief Judge Lawrence E. Mooney and Judge Sherri B. Sullivan. In addition, Judge Gary M. Gaertner Sr., also of the Court of Appeals, Eastern District, assisted with the robing.  

In his remarks, Teitelman said, "I'm eternally grateful to Gov. Bob Holden for this opportunity to serve the people of Missouri. I thank the Chief Justice for this wonderful ceremony and for the graciousness he and the other judges have shown me in my first few months on the bench."

Teitelman paraphrased Helen Keller in telling 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." But he added, "This installation is not about me. It is about the people I have worked with and the people I have served."
 
A Philadelphia native, Teitelman worked with Legal Services of Eastern Missouri for more than two decades, until he was appointed to the appeals court in December 1997. He was appointed to the Supreme Court in February 2002.

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