Myron L. Gordon

Myron L. Gordon (February 11, 1918November 3, 2009) was an American lawyer and jurist from Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was a United States district judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, serving from 1967 until taking senior status in 1983. He previously served five years as a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and was a Wisconsin circuit court judge for seven years in Milwaukee County.
Education and career
Born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Gordon received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1939 and a Master of Arts degree from the same institution in 1939. He received a Bachelor of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1942. He was Lieutenant in the United States Naval Reserve from 1944 to 1946. He was in private practice in Milwaukee from 1945 to 1950. He was a civil court judge in Milwaukee County from 1950 to 1954. He ran unsuccessfully for a Wisconsin circuit court judgeship in 1953, losing to
Leo B. Hanley. He ran again the following year, and this time defeated incumbent judge Elmer W. Roller. He served a full six-year term as circuit judge and was re-elected in 1960.
In 1961, he sought election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the seat being vacated by the retirement of chief justice John E. Martin. Gordon survived the nonpartisan primary in March 1961, and went on to face former state attorney general Stewart G. Honeck in the general election. Gordon prevailed with 52% of the vote in the April general election.
Federal judicial service
Gordon was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on January 16, 1967, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, to a new seat created by 80 Stat. 75. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 2, 1967, and received his commission on March 4, 1967. He assumed senior status on February 12, 1983. He served in that status until his death on November 3, 2009, in Palm Desert, California.
Personal life and family
Myron Gordon was a son of Jewish immigrants Samuel R. and Janet (Ruppa) Gordon. His father was born in Poland and his mother was born in Russia. Myron had one older brother, Norvan, who was a medical doctor in Milwaukee County.
Myron Gordon married Ruth Peggy Siesel on August 16, 1942. They had three children together before her death from post-surgical complications in 1973. Gordon subsequently remarried, and was survived by his second wife, Myra.
Electoral history
Wisconsin Circuit Court (1953)
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, April 7, 1953
Wisconsin Circuit Court (1954, 1960)
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, April 6, 1954
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, April 5, 1960
Wisconsin Supreme Court (1961)
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| Nonpartisan Primary, March 7, 1961
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, April 4, 1961
See also
List of United States federal judges by longevity of service
References
Sources
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1918 births
2009 deaths
University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
Harvard Law School alumni
Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
United States district court judges appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson
20th-century American judges
Politicians from Kenosha, Wisconsin
Justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
Wisconsin state court judges
United States Navy officers
Military personnel from Wisconsin
United States Navy reservists
United States Navy personnel of World War II
Jewish American attorneys
Jewish American people in Wisconsin politics