Judge Walther dies at 90
♦ Colleagues cite fairness and kindness in court as the veteran judge’s primary traits.
Longtime Floyd County Superior Court Judge Robert G. Walther died Thursday night at the age of 90. Walther served on the bench of the Rome Judicial Circuit from 1980 through his retirement in 2004. Prior to being elected to the judgeship, Walther served as the Floyd County Attorney, attorney for the Rome Board of Education, was a past president of the Rome Bar Association and District Attorney.
“It was my pleasure to have taken his seat, not replace him, but take his seat,” said Judge Bryant Durham. “He was one of the greatest human beings that I have known. He had a real sense of what was right and just, and conducted himself in ways that showed he cared about everyone that was before him and he was extremely fair with everyone.”
Retiring Floyd Superior Court Chief Judge Tami Colston said Walther was like a second father to her. “He wrote the book on what it was like to be a good man,” Colston said.
She remembered leaving the courthouse many days at the same time and said Judge Walther would go to different nursing homes most evenings just to visit with somebody. Colston said Walther took her to the hospital after her father was admitted to the hospital just prior to his death.
“He stayed with me and when Daddy died, the first person at my door the next morning was Judge Walther,” Colston said.
Walther received his law degree from the University of Georgia in 1951 and moved to Rome where he practiced for nearly three decades before becoming a judge.
Renowned Summerville attorney Bobby Lee Cook recalls trying dozens of cases in front of Judge Walther over the years.
“He was an outstanding lawyer and he was an extraordinary, thoughtful, brilliant judge. He was steeped in absolute fairness,” said Cook, who is 91 himself. “His passing will be a great loss to the community and to the judiciary.”
Walther actually swore in current District Attorney Leigh Patterson when she initially passed the bar exam and then again when she became an assistant district attorney.
“He was always respectful and kind to people in his courtroom, even when you could tell he was getting a little irritated with them,” Patterson recalled. “I don’t think I ever saw him angry in court but maybe once or twice. Somebody had to really, really push him to get him there.”
Patterson said his death was like “the passing or an era.”
Superior Court Judge Larry Salmon, who calls himself about half retired, tried many a case in front of Walther while Salmon was D.A.
“He was always fair and firm and up to date on the law, which put a burden on those of us who practiced before him to be up to date,” Salmon said.
U.S. District Court Judge Harold L. Murphy called Walther one of the most outstanding men he has ever known.
“As a jurist, he set the highest standards and his influence on the courts continues as we all try to meet his high standards of fairness, knowledge and wisdom,” Murphy said. The federal judge graduated from law school two years in front of Judge Walther.
If there was anything more important than the law, it was his faith. Walther and his wife of 65 years, the late Mary Agnes Kennedy Walther, were members of First Presbyterian Church, then moved over to Westminster when it was spun out of First Presbyterian. He taught Sunday School for 62 years and made numerous mission trips to Romania, the Philippines, India, Australia, Moldova and Brazil, accompanied by his wife.
The family will receive friends at Westminster Presbyterian Church Sunday from 3-5 p.m. with the service to follow at 5. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in his honor to Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1941 Shorter Ave. SW, Rome 30165, or the YMCA, 810 E. Second Ave. SW, Rome, 30161.