Ralph Dayton Cole, Jr. (June 12, 1914 – September 2, 1999) was a Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives. A graduate of Williams College and

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

, he was originally elected to an

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

district in 1954 to represent

Hancock County, Ohio Hancock County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 74,920. Its county seat is Findlay. The county was created in 1820 and later organized in 1828. It was named for John Hancock, the first s ...

, and he would go on to serve seven more terms in the House. Throughout his tenure in the legislature, Cole served on various committees in leadership positions, most notably as chairman of the State and Government Committee. In 1968, Cole was appointed to a judicial seat for the Ohio District Courts of Appeals, and resigned prior to the end of his term. In 1981, Judge Cole also served as chief justice of the Ohio District Courts of Appeals, and also served on the Ohio Supreme Court when a substitute was needed. He would go on to serve for over twenty years, retiring from the bench in 1989. Following his service in the judiciary, he retired to his hometown of Findlay, Ohio. He died on September 2, 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Ralph Williams College alumni Case Western Reserve University alumni Judges of the Ohio District Courts of Appeals Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court Republican Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives 1914 births 1999 deaths People from Findlay, Ohio 20th-century American judges 20th-century American politicians