Richard William Ervin Jr. (born Richard Reehorse Ervin, January 26, 1905 – August 24, 2004) was the Florida Attorney General from 1949 to 1964 and served as chief justice of the

Florida Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Florida is the state supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven justices—one of whom serves as Chief Justice. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geog ...

from 1969 to 1971. He is credited with guiding the state from

segregation Segregation may refer to: Separation of people * Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space * School segregation * Housing segregation * Racial segregation, separation of human ...

(based on the brief he wrote to the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

's request from each state's Attorney General on how to rule regarding ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...

''), and desegregating its schools. His son, Richard W. Ervin III, was a judge of the First District Court of Appeal for 30 years and retired at the end of 2006. Ervin was a graduate of the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

where he was a member of

Phi Kappa Tau Phi Kappa Tau (), commonly known as Phi Tau (), is a collegiate fraternity located in the United States. The fraternity was founded in 1906. As of May 2024, the fraternity has 161 chartered chapters, 83 active chapters, 7 associate chapters, a ...

fraternity and earned his law degree at the University of Florida College of Law in 1928. Following his retirement, he was

of counsel Of counsel is the title of an attorney in the legal profession of the United States who often has a relationship with a law firm or an organization but is neither an associate nor partner. Some firms use titles such as "counsel", "special couns ...

to the law firm founded by his brother Robert Ervin, in Tallahassee. He received an honorary degree from

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

. From 1954 to 1975, Ervin was a national director of the fraternal organization Woodmen of the World.

References

1905 births 2004 deaths People from Carrabelle, Florida University of Florida alumni Florida attorneys general Justices of the Supreme Court of Florida Florida lawyers Florida Democrats 20th-century American judges Chief justices of the Supreme Court of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law alumni 20th-century American lawyers {{Florida-state-judge-stub