Leonard A. McEwan | |
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Justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court | |
In office 1968–1974 |
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Judge of the Fourth Judicial District Court of Wyoming (Sheridan and Johnson counties) | |
In office 1974–1985 |
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Personal details | |
Born |
Great Falls, Montana |
February 17, 1925
Died | January 24, 2008 Sheridan, Wyoming |
(aged 82)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | (1) Cameon Wolfe McEwan (1953–1977, deceased), (2) Mary Amschel McEwan (1988–2008, deceased) |
Children | Stepsons Edward T. Amschel, Peter Amschel, and Stephen J. Amschel |
Alma mater | University of Wyoming |
Profession | Attorney |
Religion | Episcopal |
Leonard A. McEwan (February 17, 1925 – January 24, 2008) was an American jurist who was a member of both the Wyoming Supreme Court, which meets in the capital city of Cheyenne, and the Fourth Judicial District Court, which convenes in Sheridan and serves Sheridan and Johnson counties. Though a Democrat, McEvan was elected on a nonpartisan judicial ballot in 1968, a heavily Republican year in Wyoming. He unseated an aging incumbent justice. McEwan was first justice and then chief justice until 1974, when he stepped down to return to become a judge of the Sheridan-based district court in northern Wyoming. (The five members of the Wyoming Supreme Court are now appointed by the governor and serve eight-year terms.) McEwan remained a district judge until his retirement in 1985. He preferred to live in Sheridan and enjoyed the diverse duties of a district judge in contrast to the academic thinking of a Supreme Court jurist. After he left the bench, he resumed his private law practice in Sheridan for a number of years.
McEwan was born to Leonard McEwan (1900–1984) and the late Olga McEwan in Great Falls, Montana, a city on the Missouri River. He grew up in Great Falls but moved to Sheridan in 1939 and graduated from Sheridan High School in 1943. During World War II, McEwan served in the United States Army Air Corps, the forerunner to the Air Force. In 1955, he received a bachelor of science degree in business and accounting from the University of Wyoming. In 1957, he procured his Juris Doctor degree from the UW College of Law. He played football for the Wyoming Cowboys and was part of the first Cowboys team to travel by airplane to a road game.