Robert L. Justice

Robert Leirer Justice, “Bob” (78) of Logansport, Indiana, died September 2 in Cass County Memorial Hospital with his son Robert at his bedside.  Bob’s life had come full circle.  He was born in the same place on November 8, 1944, to Robert Scott Justice, newly elected Indiana State Representative, and Catherine Leirer Justice, the hospital’s dietician.

Bob completed all eight grades at Clymers School in Clinton Township and graduated in the “Top Ten” of Logansport High School, Class of 1962.  He matriculated at Harvard College, where he resided in Adams House and graduated cum laude in English in 1966.  Bob then returned to the family farm and continued his studies in English at Purdue University (1966-67). Ultimately he determined to follow his father and practice law.  He entered Harvard Law School in 1967, joined the Lincoln’s Inn Society, graduated 1971 and passed the Indiana Bar the same year. He graduated from Indiana Judicial College in 1988.

On July 9, 1972, Bob married Laurie Jane Dingle in Holden, Massachusetts.  After a brief sojourn in Indianapolis, they spent many years personally rehabilitating an early Twentieth-century balloon frame farmhouse, “The Little Frank Place” in Clinton Township, where they lived for thirty years.  They became the parents of three children: Rebecca Justice Lazarus of San Francisco, California; Jessica Catherine Justice of Oakland, California, and Robert Dingle Justice of Clinton Township.  Bob and Laurie raised all three children at the Little Frank Place. 

Bob’s law career spanned nearly fifty years, most of them in the office he shared with his father in the historic Pollard-Nelson House (now “The Pollard”) on Seventh Street.  He was admitted to practice before the Northern and Southern U.S. District Courts (IN), Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, U.S. Tax Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.  He was also a certified civil mediator. Bob particularly enjoyed his work as a judge, serving as Logansport City Judge (1978-79), Cass Circuit Judge (1982-88), Cass Circuit Court Magistrate (1999–2000), Lake Circuit Court Magistrate (2005), and as Senior Judge and Special Judge in multiple Indiana courts.  As judge, he furthered juvenile justice reform.  He served as chairman of Indiana State Bar Association Sections: Family & Juvenile Law (1979-82) and Criminal Law (1977-78).  He was a  member of the Cass County Bar Association, Indiana State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association.

Bob was an active alumnus and citizen, serving as an interviewer for Harvard College and participating in numerous college reunions.  He loved to read, indulged a passion for comic books, wrote poetry and prose and rode motorcycles.  His family looked forward to hearing his creative Christmas tales each year, always read with dramatic effect and a variety of voices for all of his characters.  He ran cattle on his parents’ farm in Clinton Township, managed his grandfather’s farm there with his sister, Margaret, and maintained close relationships with his numerous cousins, siblings, nephews and nieces, near and far.  He was a loyal Hoosier, whose family has been resident in Indiana since the 1700s and in Cass County since the 1820s.  A contributing participant in the local community, he was a member of the Logansport Rotary Club, Cass County Historical Society, Indiana Historical Society, Wm Paca Lodge and Logansport-Cass County Library Board. After 46 years, he closed his law practice in 2017 and moved to Logansport. In December 2019 Logansport’s mayor named Bob “Logansport Citizen of the Week.”

Bob is survived by his three children and two grandchildren: Madeline Jane Lazarus of San Francisco and Robert Conner Justice of Clinton Township.  Additionally surviving are his four remaining siblings and their numerous children and grandchildren: Margaret Justice Dean of Salida, Colorado; Samuel Charles Justice of Portland, Oregon; Elizabeth Anne Justice of Crawfordsville, Indiana; and Amy Caroline Justice of New Haven, Connecticut.  He was preceded in death by his wife, parents and younger brother, Thomas Jonathan Justice.

Visitation will be Saturday, September 16, from 10 until 11 am at Kroeger Funeral Home, 711 East Market Street, Logansport. A memorial service will immediately follow at 11 at Kroeger’s. Interment services are planned at the Church at Pleasant Hill and the Keeps Creek Cemetery in Clinton Township.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Logansport-Cass County Library or the Cass County Historical Society in his name.

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