Roy Vance, Former Ky. Supreme Court justice dies
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Former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Roy Vance, who served on the
state's highest court from 1983 to 1991, died Wednesday in Vero Beach,
Fla., after a lengthy illness, according to his daughter, Terry Vance.
He was 85.
"I'm shocked and deeply saddened with his passing," Chief Justice
Joseph Lambert told the Lexington Herald-Leader. "Judge Vance was a
very close friend and personal mentor. He had the finest intellect of
any judge I've ever worked with. He was a skillful writer and a great
student of the law."
In addition to serving on the Supreme Court, Vance was a judge on the
Court of Appeals from 1976 to 1983. He was an appointed commissioner
from 1970 to 1976 for the old Court of Appeals, then the state's
highest court.
Vance was a native of McCracken County. He was commonwealth's attorney
for the county from 1953 to 1957.
After Vance graduated from the University of Kentucky law school,
Lambert said, Vance was about to enter the military. A special law was
enacted that allowed him to practice law in Kentucky at age 20. That
law was repealed shortly afterward.
Lambert said Vance was the only person to be admitted to the Kentucky
Bar Association to practice law in the state before reaching age 21.
Former Chief Justice John Palmore of Frankfort said Vance "not only was
my neighbor, but a dear friend. He was not only a brilliant lawyer but
a fine speaker. I've always had a lot of admiration for him.
"He might disagree with you, but he was never hostile. I respected him
a lot."
Palmore said Vance and his wife, Euleen, lived in Florida and
Frankfort.
Bruce Davis, executive director of the Kentucky Bar Association, said
Vance "was known as one of the most intellectual and intelligent judges
in Kentucky and an extremely courteous person."
Besides his daughter, of Frankfort, Vance is survived by a son, Newton
Vance, of Key West, Fla.; and another daughter, Linda Barton of
Asheville, N.C.