Roy Winfield Harper

Roy Winfield Harper (July 26, 1905 – February 13, 1994) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

Education and career

Born on July 26, 1905, in Gibson, Missouri, Harper received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1929 from the University of Missouri and a Bachelor of Laws in 1929 from the University of Missouri School of Law. He was an attorney with the Real Estate Appraisal Division of Shell Oil Company from 1929 to 1931. He was in private practice in Steele, Missouri from 1931 to 1934 and in Caruthersville, Missouri, from 1934 to 1947. Harper was a major in the United States Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1945.

Federal judicial service

Harper received a recess appointment from President Harry S. Truman on August 7, 1947, to a joint seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri vacated by Judge John Caskie Collet. President Truman nominated Harper to a judgeship on November 24, 1947, but the United States Senate did not confirm his nomination, so his service terminated on December 19, 1947. However, President Truman gave him a second recess appointment on December 20, 1947. The Senate still did not confirm his nomination, so his service terminated on June 22, 1948. The same day, President Truman gave him yet a third recess appointment, and Truman nominated him again January 13, 1949. The Senate finally confirmed Harper on January 31, 1949, and he received his commission on February 2, 1949. He served as Chief Judge of the Eastern District from 1959 to 1971, and he was a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1965 to 1971. On January 5, 1971, Judge Harper assumed senior status. He was a member of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation from 1977 to 1983. Harper died February 13, 1994, in Chesterfield, Missouri.

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