Edwin J. Peterson

Edwin J. Peterson (March 30, 1930 – December 2, 2023) was an American jurist in the state of Oregon. He was the 39th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, serving from 1983 to 1991, and was a Distinguished Jurist in Residence at Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon.

Education Peterson was born on March 30, 1930, in Gilmanton, Wisconsin. In the process of moving with his family to Oregon, Peterson attended Roosevelt High School in Portland and was graduated from Eugene High School in Eugene. He received his undergraduate Bachelor of Science in music from the University of Oregon in 1951. He entered the United States Air Force the following year, attaining the rank of first lieutenant and serving until 1954. Peterson then returned to school and earned his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree in 1957 from Oregon's law school. He enjoyed the law, and dropped his ambitions for Congress. He then was re-elected in 1980, 1986, and 1992. Peterson was president of the Multnomah Bar Association from 1972 to 1973.

In 1989, Peterson was awarded the University of Oregon Law's Meritorious Service Award, While on the court he led efforts to study and eliminate racial and ethnic biases in the courts. This included serving as the chairman of a task force on bias in the Oregon courts. The University of Oregon's alumni association gave Peterson their Distinguished Alumni Award in 1996,