Northwestern University Law,
class of 1938
State Bar of Arizona
member since 1938
Philip E. Von Ammon was born in Winnetka, Illinois, in 1915. He attended Northwestern University for both undergraduate school and law school, receiving his law degree in 1938. Upon graduation Von Ammon joined the Chicago law firm of Sidley, McPherson, Austin and Burgess. In 1942, he joined the navy, leaving the service with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. In 1946, Philip worked for the next five years as a trial lawyer for the Santa Fe Railroad in Chicago.
In 1951, Walter E . Craig asked Philip Von Ammon to join the firm of Fennemore Craig in Phoenix where he served as Managing Partner for many years. Over his exemplary career he was active in the promotion of the profession and legal community. .
University of Arizona Law,
class of 1946
State Bar of Arizona
member since 1946
Robert S. Tullar, a former Pima County Superior Court Judge, was born in 1915 in Waukesha, Wisconsin and came to Tucson in 1937. He attended the University of Arizona College of Law from 1943 to 1946. In 1953, while as Pima Superior Court Judge, Tullar presided over polygamy charges against 26 Short Creek male citizens. Tullar retired from the bench in 1959 to return to private law practice with the McCarty, Chandler, Tullar, and Udall law firm. He served as President of the Arizona Court Judges Association, Vice President of the Arizona Tuberculosis Association, and was a member of several community organizations. (Excerpt from the Arizona Historical Society MS 1105)
University of Illinois Law,
class of 1944
State Bar of Arizona
member since 1954
(b. 1922, d. 2000) Judge Alice Truman was born December 24, 1922 in Waggoner, Illinois. She received her undergraduate degree in history in 1942 and earned her J.D. degree in 1944, both from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. After practicing law in Illinois and Colorado, Judge Truman moved to Tucson in 1953. She ran for Pima County Superior Court Judge in 1962, took office in 1963 and served for thirty years before retiring in 1993.
Judge Truman entered the field of law at a rather young age. She was one of the earliest women to seek actively a judicial office and has been an advocate all her life for more women in law. In the following interview, she reviews the past and present roles of Justices of the Peace and Superior Court Judges and some of her experiences attendant to those roles. Judge Truman comments on changes in the courts and the law in the last fifty years and of possible changes in the future. Judge Truman received the Arizona State Bar's highest award for outstanding work as a lawyer and a judge.
University of Arizona Law,
class of 1933
State Bar of Arizona
member since 1933
(b. 1912-d. 1992) Frederick C. Struckmeyer was born in 1912. Upon his appointment to the Arizona Supreme Court in 1955, it was noted that he was the youngest person ever elected or appointed to the Supreme Court. He was 43 years old at the time. He served as Chief Justice in 1966 and for a total of 27 years with the Supreme Court.
In 1953, then Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Struckmeyer, decided the case Phillips vs. Phoenix Union High Schools and Junior College District. He wrote, "a half century of intolerance is enough," ruling that the Arizona law permitting school boards to segregate pupils was unconstitutional and the Phoenix Union district's segregation of African-American students was illegal.
University of Arizona Law,
class of 1948
State Bar of Arizona
member since 1948
Harry A. Stewart, Jr. was born in Tempe, Arizona February 14, 1926. Spending his earliest years in Prescott, Harry moved by to Maricopa County when he was five or six. He called Phoenix home from then until 1943 when he entered the armed services. He entered the naval training program, going to a small college in Kansas City for two semesters before being transferred to the Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps unit at University of California, Los Angeles. He received his degree and commission in 1945. Following the war, he was assigned as head of the Motor Vehicle Department for the Eighth Naval District in New Orleans. After his time of service, he came back to Arizona and farmed for two years before enrolling in the University of Arizona Law School and graduating in 1950. He began his legal career with two of his uncles, William A. Moeur and J.H. Moeur in Phoenix.