Reuben Melville Wanamaker (August 2, 1866 – June 18, 1924) was a judge in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. He served on the

Ohio Supreme Court The Ohio Supreme Court, Officially known as The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a ...

from 1913 until he took his life in 1924.

Biography

R. M. Wanamaker was born August 2, 1866The Supreme Court of Ohio and The Ohio Judicial System - Reuben Melville (R.M.) Wanamaker
/ref> at

North Jackson, Ohio North Jackson is an unincorporated community in central Jackson Township, Mahoning County, Ohio, United States. It lies along State Route 45 between Salem and Warren. North Jackson is the site of a Marian shrine of the Catholic Church, the Bas ...

. He grew up on a farm and attended the local schools, and a course to become a teacher at

Ohio Northern University Ohio Northern University (Ohio Northern or ONU) is a private United Methodist Church–affiliated university in Ada, Ohio. Founded by Henry Solomon Lehr in 1871, ONU is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It offers over 60 programs to ...

Ada, Ohio Ada ; ; is a village in Hardin County, Ohio, United States, located about southwest of Toledo. The population was 5,952 at the 2010 census. History Following the 1817 Treaty of Fort Meigs, the Shawnee Indians held reservation land at Hog Cree ...

. He taught school and was principal at

Lima, Ohio Lima ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwest Ohio along Interstate 75 in Ohio, Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton, southwest of Toledo, Ohio, T ...

, while studying law at a Lima firm. Wanamaker entered law school at Ohio Northern in 1891, while teaching in Ada, and was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

, March, 1893, before graduating.The News Herald (Hillsboro, Ohio) October 31, 1912, page 6
/ref> He located in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

that autumn, and opened a law practice with a classmate. In 1895, Wanamaker was elected prosecuting attorney of Summit County, and he was re-elected in 1898. He was elected to the Common Pleas Court in 1905, and was re-elected in 1910. In 1912, the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Party in Ohio was in disarray, with Taft and

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factions disagreeing. Wanamaker decided to run as a

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, and was nominated at the state party convention. There were thirteen candidates for the two available seats. Wanamaker and Democrat Oscar W. Newman won. Wanamaker was the first candidate to be elected to the Supreme Court without major party support. Wanamaker was seated January 1, 1913. He ran for re-election in 1918, as a Republican, and won another six years. Wanamaker's book, ''The Voice of Lincoln'', was published in 1918. Wanamaker began to suffer severe depression in 1923. Medical treatment did not help alleviate it. He did not hear cases, but did participate in conferences to break 3-3 ties on the court. He decided not to enter the 1924 Republican primary for re-election, and decided to run as an independent, hoping to recover enough to campaign. Wanamaker entered Mount Carmel Hospital,

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

, June 12, 1924 for treatment of his depression. On June 18, 1924, he committed suicide by leaping from his fourth story window of the hospital.''Lima News'', June 18, 1924
/ref> His funeral was in Akron.

Personal

Wanamaker was married April 7, 1890 to Fannie Jane Snow. They had two children. He was a member of the

Knights of Pythias The Knights of Pythias is a fraternal organization and secret society founded in Washington, D.C., on . The Knights of Pythias is the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an act of the United States Congress. It was founded ...

, I.O.O.F., B.P.O.E., K.O.T.M., and M.W.A.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wanamaker, Reuben Melville 1866 births 1924 suicides American politicians who committed suicide County district attorneys in Ohio Ohio Northern University alumni Claude W. Pettit College of Law alumni Ohio Republicans Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court Politicians from Akron, Ohio Politicians from Lima, Ohio People from Mahoning County, Ohio Suicides in Ohio Ohio Progressives (1912) Suicides by jumping in the United States 1924 deaths