Robert Mason Sohngen (July 16, 1887 – June 4, 1953) was a lawyer from

Hamilton, Ohio Hamilton is a city in and the county seat of Butler County, Ohio, United States. Located north of Cincinnati, Hamilton is the second largest city in the Greater Cincinnati area and the 10th largest city in Ohio. The population was 63,399 at th ...

who was a justice of the

Supreme Court of Ohio 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 ...

1947-1948, as well as serving in other local, state and federal positions.

Biography

Robert M. Sohngen was born July 16, 1887 in

to Charles E. and Anna Mason Sohngen. He graduated in 1908 from

Cornell University Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, it offers four law degree programs, JD, LLM, MSLS and JSD, along with several dual-degr ...

, travelled in Europe for a year, and worked for Williams Shoe Company in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

for five years beginning in 1909. In 1915, Sohngen was admitted to the Ohio bar, and formed the firm of ''Williams & Sohngen'' in Hamilton. He was also elected to the Hamilton Board of Education that year, and re-elected in 1919. He was board president for four years. He enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

on August 27, 1917, during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was assigned to Officer's Training School at

Fort Harrison Fort Harrison, later renamed Fort Burnham, was an important component of the Confederate defenses of Richmond during the American Civil War. Named after Lieutenant William Harrison, a Confederate engineer, it was the largest in the series of fort ...

, Indiana. He was commissioned first lieutenant on November 27, 1917, and assigned to Camp Sherman in Chillicothe in the 158th Brigade. He was Camp Judge Advocate and Camp Intelligence Officer. He was promoted to Captain on July 10, 1918, and acquired the nickname "Cappy". He was discharged December 20, 1918. Sohngen was elected Hamilton city solicitor in 1922, and served until 1923. He was Chairman of the Butler County Democratic Executive Committee several times in the 1920s and 1930s. He was appointed state counsel for the

Home Owners Loan Corporation The Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) was a government-sponsored corporation created as part of the New Deal. The corporation was established in 1933 by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation Act under the leadership of President Franklin D. Roo ...

in 1933, and served until resigning February 1935 to return to private practice in Hamilton. From 1939 to 1944, he was a member of the Ohio Bar Examining Committee. Ohio Governor

Frank Lausche Frank John Lausche (; November 14, 1895 – April 21, 1990) was an American Democratic politician from Ohio. He served as the 47th mayor of Cleveland and the 55th and 57th governor of Ohio, and also served as a United States Senator from Ohio ...

appointed him director of the Ohio Department of Liquor Control on January 13, 1945.

Roy Hughes Williams Roy Hughes Williams (September 1, 1874 – December 18, 1946) was a lawyer from the U.S. State of Ohio who served as a prosecutor, local and appellate judge, and was a justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio from 1934 until his death. Biography Roy ...

of the

died December 18, 1946. Governor Lausche appointed Sohngen to the court on January 4, 1947, and he took office January 9, 1947. Williams unexpired term ended December 31, 1948. Sohngen ran for a six-year term in November, 1948, but was defeated by

Kingsley A. Taft Kingsley Arter Taft (July 19, 1903March 28, 1970) was an American politician and distant relative of Ohio's more famous Taft family. He served as chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court and also served briefly as a United States Senator. Kingsley ...

. After his term on the high court ended, Sohngen returned to the firm he founded, then called ''Sohngen, Parrish, Beeler and Egbert''. Sohngen died at Mercy Hospital in Hamilton on June 4, 1953. He is buried at Greenwood Cemetery. Sohngen married Helen Ray Simpson on March 30, 1910. They had no children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sohngen, Robert M 1887 births 1953 deaths Ohio Democrats United States Army personnel of World War I Cornell Law School alumni Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court Politicians from Hamilton, Ohio United States Army officers 20th-century American judges