Larry Starcher Death, Obituary – Justice Larry Starcher of the West Virginia Supreme Court, who had previously held the position of circuit judge in Monongalia County, passed away unexpectedly on the eve of Christmas. He was eighty years old. The West Virginia Supreme Court revealed in a press release that Justice Larry Starcher was born in 1942 in Calhoun County. He was raised in Spencer, a town in Roane County, where he also completed his high school education. West Virginia University awarded Justice Starcher his bachelor’s degree in 1964 and his law degree in 1967.
He served as the vice-president for off-campus education’s assistant at West Virginia University, the director of the North Central West Virginia Legal Aid Society, and a private attorney before being chosen to serve as a circuit judge in 1976. Additionally, he was a member of the North Central West Virginia Legal Aid Society’s board of directors. He served as a circuit judge for 20 years in total, 18 of those serving as head judge, the statement claims. He was the first person to apply work release and community service as a form of punishment for nonviolent offenders, according to the press release, and he presided over the trials of 20,000 asbestos damage cases and a 6-month asbestos in state buildings trial.
He was also the first to oversee the asbestos cases involving governmental buildings during trial. He was then elected to the Supreme Court of Appeals in 1996 for a full 12-year term, where he presided as chief justice in 1999 and 2003. He was involved in numerous groups while serving on the Supreme Court of Appeals, including the Self-Represented Litigants Task Force and the Mental Hygiene Commission. He also helped revive the Gender Fairness Task Force and improved the State Law Library. The J.R. Clifford Project, which included a variety of community events and publications hosted across the state and focused on the life and career of J.R. Clifford, West Virginia’s first African American lawyer, was also led by him, the announcement claims.