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David Stewart Porter was born on September 23, 1909 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the youngest of eleven children born to Charles Hamilton Porter and Caroline (Pemberton) Porter. His father was a pioneer educator in the field of technical education in the Cincinnati Public Schools. After graduating from city school, he entered the College of Liberal Arts of the University of Cincinnati, receiving his A. B. in 1932.1
Porter received his legal education from the University of Cincinnati, College of Law, graduating in 1934. He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1934 and to the Tennessee Bar in 1935. He served as an attorney for the Tennessee Valley Authority at Knoxville from 1934 to 1936. He established a private practice in Troy, Ohio in 1937 and in 1949, he was appointed Judge of the Common Pleas Court of Miami County by Governor Frank Lausche. He was re-elected to that position in 1954 and in 1960, serving seventeen years.2
As a state judge he succeeded in reducing the time for processing cases and was effective in keeping the dockets current. With the approval of the bar he established the practice of pre-trial conference in Troy, and helped set up a system unique in Ohio for looking after the interests of minor children in divorce cases. Judge Porter was elected president of the Ohio Common Pleas Judges Association in December, 1963, after serving as its vice president and having been a member of its executive committee for several years. Among other committees on which he served was one which formulated standard jury charges. He was active in the Ohio Judicial Conference and was chosen three times to be the Ohio delegate to the National Conference of State Trial Judges.3
Judge Porter has been active in civic affairs as a member of the Board of Governors of Dettmer Hospital, Troy Community Chest, member of the Miami County T. B. and Health Association, and Director of the Ohio State Public Health Association. In the legal area he has been active in both the Miami County and Ohio State Bar Associations. He served on the legal education committee of the Ohio State Bar Association and was assistant editor of Pages Ohio General Code.4 In 1980, the University of Cincinnati, College of Law honored Judge Porter with it's first Outstanding Distinguished Alumnus Award.5
President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Porter to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on September 30, 1966. The Senate confirmed the nomination in early November and he took his judicial oath on November 10, 1966.6 Judge Porter has been called a "twin" to Judge Timothy S. Hogan, who became a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District on the same day. They were born on the same day, both were graduates of the University of Cincinnati, College of Law, both had three children, the second of which was a daughter named Margaret, and both had their chambers and courtrooms in the same building on the same floor.7
Judge Porter served as the second Chief Judge of the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio from September 20, 1977 to September 22, 1979. He assumed Senior status on September 23, 1979, and continued to work full time to help relieve court dockets in district courts around the country.8
Porter was married twice. His first wife Martha McConnaughey and he had three daughters: Mary Stewart, Margaret Lee and Elizabeth Sue. In 1956, Judge Porter Marjorie Bluet (Ellis) Foster of Michigan. Judge Porter died on January 5, 1989, and his ashes were interred at Riverside Cemetery, Troy.9 |
