Biography

12/21/1905 - 01/06/2008

Judge Alvin Evans Kephart (R2) Philadelphia (Part) County 1939-1954

Early Life:

Judge Alvin Evans Kephart, born December 21, 1905, Ebensburg, Cambria County, Pennsylvania; son of John W. and Florence Evans Kephart; public school education, Ebensburg, Pennsylvania; Lawrenceville School, 1923; Princeton University, 1927; Harvard Law School, 1930; settled, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; admitted bar; attorney, Montgomery McCracken law firm; Assistant City Solicitor, Philadelphia; elected, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1939-1954; appointed, first state court administrator, Commonwealth Courts, 1968-1973; moved, Tucson, Arizona, 1973-1986; moved, San Diego, California 1992-2003; Spearfish, South Dakota, 2003-2008; died, January 6, 2008, (aged 102), Spearfish, Lawrence County, South Dakota; interment Lloyd Cemetery, Cambria County, Ebensburg, Pennsylvania.

Professional titles; business ownership; board memberships; local government; club memberships:

Member, Philadelphia Country Club, Union League Club of Philadelphia, Groundhog Table, Clover Club, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.

Early Career:

Formed law partnership, with former Minnesota Governor and sometime presidential candidate, Harold Stassen. The Philadelphia firm, Stassen and Kephart, specialized, corporate, international, government contract, intellectual property, real estate, transactional, trusts and estates law.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 2nd district, Philadelphia (Part) County; championed the completion Pennsylvania Turnpike while in office, 1939-1954.

General election of 1938 had challenger Herbert Levin defeating incumbent Samuel Salus of Philadelphia County, by 45 votes. The seat was declared vacant.  A. Evans Kephart, was elected November 7, 1939, to fill the vacancy.

Appointed, first State Court Administrator for the Commonwealth Courts, Governor Raymond P. Shafer, reported directly, Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court, 1968-1973.

Legacy:

Filed an appellate brief before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, appealing restrictions on the city's legal right to use water from the Schuylkill River for municipal purposes. He received general acclaim at his subsequent victory in the case, his efforts marking a signal point in appellate law.

Farther, Honorable John W. Kephart, Justice, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1919-1936, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1936-1940.

Grandfather, Honorable Alvin Evans, two term United States Congressman, representing Cambria County.

 Cited:

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members K". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

Obituary of A. Evans Kephart | Askew-Houser Funeral Homes Inc.

Judge Alvin Evans Kephart (1905-2008) - Find a Grave Memorial