CHARLESTON – Former West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw has died.
McGraw, who also served as a circuit judge in Wyoming County, died June 14. He was 84.
McGraw was a public servant for more than 50 years. His last position was circuit judge in Wyoming County. He retired from that job on June 21, 2021, citing his physical impairments from Parkinson’s disease as the reason.
He also was a former state Senator and Senate President. He also previously served as a member of the House of Delegates, the Wyoming County Board of Education, Wyoming County Prosecuting Attorney. He was the brother of former state Supreme Court justice and former state Attorney General Darrell McGraw.
“Warren McGraw gave his life to public service and to serving the people of West Virginia,” state Democratic Party Chairman Mike Pushkin said. “As a legislator, senate president, Supreme Court justice, circuit judge, prosecutor and local school board member, Warren McGraw was a tireless advocate for working people and those who are too often left behind.”
Pushkin said McGraw “never forgot that a society is measured by how it treats its weakest members.”
“From the school board to the Legislature, to the halls of the Supreme Court, he fought with every ounce of his ability to improve the lives of the poor and those struggling to make a better life for themselves and for their families,” Pushkin said. “On behalf of the West Virginia Democratic Party, I wanted to extend my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Warren McGraw at this difficult time. His was truly a life well lived, and because of his efforts, countless West Virginia lives were made better by his many contributions to our state.”
Current state Senate President Craig Blair also praised McGraw’s record of public service.
“Though he may be most remembered for his public service as a justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals, Justice McGraw proudly served the people of Wyoming County as their senator, and he never forgot his deep, proud southern West Virginia roots,” Blair (R-Berkeley) said. “On behalf of the entire West Virginia Senate, I send my prayers to the family and friends former Senate President Warren McGraw during their time of sorrow.”
McGraw was elected to the state Supreme Court in 1998 to serve the remainder of an unexpired term, and he served as Chief Justice in 2001. In 2008, he was elected as a judge in Wyoming County and re-elected in 2016.
In 2004, McGraw was part of one of the most hotly contested races in state history.
McGraw was challenged by Brent Benjamin for the Supreme Court seat, and Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship created a political action committee called “And For the Sake of the Kids” to oppose McGraw’s re-election. During a speech at a Labor Day rally, McGraw saw a political operative in the crowd. His reaction became known as “The Scream at Racine,” and it was used in campaign ads against him by Blankenship’s PAC. Benjamin defeated McGraw by a 53-47 percent margin for the Supreme Court seat.
McGraw graduated from Morris Harvey College (now the University of Charleston) in 1960. After attending grad school at West Virginia University, he earned his law degree from Wake Forest in 1963. In addition to working in private practice, McGraw also was a steel and chemical worker, a U.S. Department of Justice trial lawyer, a legal services attorney and an instructor at the West Virginia University Extension Agency. He was a member of the Wyoming and Raleigh County Bar Associations and Rotary International.
He received the 2022 Fred H. Caplan award from the West Virginia Association of Justice in recognition of his lifetime of service to West Virginia. He was married to Peggy Shufflebarger, and they have three children.