Senior Status Judge Robert B. Stone passed away on Monday, November 6, 2023.
He was 79.
Judge Stone served as a circuit judge in Monongalia County for 24 years and was a senior status judge for almost 15 years. “Bob Stone was a pillar of the judicial community in the state of West Virginia. He worked tirelessly during his time as a judge and as a senior status judge to improve our system of judging and our dedication to the rule of law. He will be missed. My condolences to his family and friends,” said Supreme Court Justice John Hutchison. “Judge Bob Stone was widely known in West Virginia’s judicial community and highly respected for his scholarship, fairness, and unfailing courtesy and politeness. His passing is a great loss to our entire state, and especially to Monongalia County. His friends and family have my deepest sympathy,” said Justice William R. “Bill” Wooton.
“On November 6, 2023, the Monongalia County Bar lost one of its most distinguished and respected members,” Perri Jo DeChristopher, Chief Judge in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit (Monongalia County), said in a letter to members of the county bar.
“Please take a moment today to remember a meaningful conversation with Judge Stone or a special interaction in his courtroom. There will be no shortage of wonderful memories.” Judge Stone was born in Morgantown on December 18, 1943. He graduated from Morgantown High School in 1961, received a bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University in 1995 and a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1968. He was Order of the Coif, worked on the West Virginia Law Review from 1966 to 1968 and was associate editor of the law review from 1967 to 1968. After graduating from law school, he was a law clerk (1968-1969) to U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Maxwell, chief judge in the Northern District of West Virginia. He then practiced law in the family firm Stone & Stone with his father Ward D. Stone (1969- 1977) and brother Ward D. Stone, Jr. (1970-1985). He also served as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Monongalia County (1981-1985). He was appointed to the bench by then-governor Arch A. Moore Jr., on October 11, 1985, and was elected in 1986, 1992, and 2000. He served as chief judge for several years before deciding not to run for re-election in 2008. He retired on December 31, 2008. He held all positions in the West Virginia Judicial Association, including president from October 1996 to October 1997.
He was a teaching judge with the judicial association and the West Virginia State Bar and was an adjunct lecturer at West Virginia University College of Law. He and his wife, the former Susanne Ponek, had six children.
Original source can be found here.
