Edward C. O'Rear | |
|---|---|
 O'Rear in 1908 | |
| Justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals | |
| In office 1900–1911 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Edward Clay O'Rear February 2, 1863 Montgomery County, Kentucky, US |
| Died | September 12, 1961 (aged 98) Woodford County, Kentucky, US |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Virginia Lee Hazelrigg Mabel Taylor |
| Children | 5 |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Edward Clay O'Rear (February 2, 1863 – September 12, 1961) was an American politician who served on the Kentucky Court of Appeals and was a Republican candidate for the United States House of Representatives in 1888 and for Governor of Kentucky in 1911. His father died when O'Rear was very young, and he began work as a printer's devil to help support his mother and fourteen siblings. Eventually, he became editor of the Mountain Scorcher newspaper and read law under its publisher. He gained admission to the bar in 1882.
In 1888, O'Rear failed to unseat incumbent Congressman William P. Taulbee, but in 1894, he was elected county judge of Montgomery County, Kentucky, by a small margin, becoming the only Republican to hold that office in the county's history. He was elected to the Kentucky Court of Appeals, then the state's highest court, in 1900 and was re-elected in 1908. Among his important decisions were legalizing parimutuel betting, designating counties as the voting unit in local option prohibition votes, and upholding the Day Law that mandated racial segregation in the state's public schools. In 1911, O'Rear ran for governor, but his progressive platform alienated his party's more conservative wing, and he lost the election to Democrat James B. McCreary. Shortly after the election, he resigned from the Court of Appeals and returned to private practice.
O'Rear became wealthy as a chief counsel in Kentucky for the Consolidation Coal Co. and augmented his wealth through investments in real estate. In the 1920s, he helped Mary Carson Breckinridge legally organize the Frontier Nursing Service. He became more conservative later in life, opposing integration of the graduate school at the University of Kentucky and Democratic Gov. Bert T. Combs' attempt to revise the state constitution. He continued to practice law into his nineties, becoming one of the oldest active lawyers in the U.S. He died September 12, 1961, at 98. The combined lives of O'Rear and his father spanned the administrations of every U.S. President from George Washington to John F. Kennedy.