Robert L. Gavin

Robert Lee Gavin (May 22, 1916 – June 11, 1981) was an American attorney and politician from North Carolina.

Early life and education Robert Gavin was born on May 22, 1916, in Roseboro, North Carolina, to Edward Lee Gavin and Mary Caudle Gavin. Soon thereafter his family moved to Sanford, where he attended public schools. He married Grace McNiell Blue in 1947

Career After receiving his law degree, Gavin returned to Sanford and practiced with the family firm of Gavin, Jackson, and Gavin. In 1958 he left the post to resume private legal practice. Though he said he would not make race an issue of his campaign, he criticized the national Democratic Party's support for civil rights. He lost the gubernatorial race, 613,975 votes to Sanford's 735,258 votes, but performed better than other Republican gubernatorial candidates had in preceding years. Gavin initially announced that he would not seek the Republican nomination for the 1964 North Carolina gubernatorial election, but changed his mind at the state Republican convention and accepted the nomination that year after being urged to do so by his colleagues. Holshouser's successor, Democrat Jim Hunt, reappointed Gavin to the post, and in 1980 he supported Hunt's reelection. He retired from the judgeship that year.