Ronald Joseph Suster (born October 31, 1942) is a retired American lawyer who served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1981 until 1995, and as a judge in

Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County ( or ) is a large urban County (United States), county located in the Northeast Ohio, northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the Canada–United States border, U.S.- ...

from 1995 until 2012.

Early life and education

Adelbert Hall - Case Western Reserve University

Ronald Joseph Suster was born on October 31, 1942, in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, to Joseph Suster, Jr. (1909-1959) and Frances Pryatel (1906-1997). His grandparents were first-generation immigrants from Slovenia. He attended Villa Angela–St. Joseph High School, a Catholic college-preparatory school in North Collinwood, Cleveland, and was later inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1992. Suster attended Western Reserve University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and economics in 1964. He then earned a

Doctorate of Jurisprudence The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

from Case Western Reserve Law School in 1967. He was admitted to the Ohio State Bar in 1967, and was in private general practice from 1970 until he became a judge in 1995. Suster is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association. He served as an Assistant

Ohio Attorney General The Ohio Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state, State of Ohio in the United States. The office is filled by general election, held every four years. The Ohio Attorney General is Republican Dave Yost. History The office ...

from 1971 to 1980, under William J. Brown.

Career in government

Suster was elected to the 114th Ohio House of Representatives in 1980 as a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, representing the 18th district. He took his seat in 1981. He was re-elected in 1982 representing the 19th district, due to redistricting after the

1980 United States census The United States census of 1980, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 226,545,805, an increase of 11.4 percent over the 203,184,772 persons enumerated during the 1970 census. It was th ...

. He retained that seat until 1993, when he won election in the 14th district. During his tenure in the House of Representatives, he served as chairman of four House committees: House Ethics (1983–84), Civil & Commercial Law (1985–86), Financial Institutions (1987–90), and Judiciary & Criminal Justice (1993–94). All four districts he served in were located in eastern

. In 1995, he resigned from the House of Representatives when he was appointed to the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas by Governor

George Voinovich George Victor Voinovich (July 15, 1936June 12, 2016) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Ohio from 1999 to 2011, the 65th governor of Ohio from 1991 to 1998 and the 54th mayor of Cleveland from 1980 to 1989, th ...

. He was a judge in the court's General Division until his mandatory retirement at age 70 in 2012, though he occasionally was assigned to adjudicate further cases. Suster was the Democratic candidate in the 1998 Ohio Supreme Court election. He received 781,103 votes, but lost to the incumbent Republican

Paul Pfeifer Paul E. Pfeifer (born October 15, 1942) is an American jurist. He served in both houses of the Ohio General Assembly as a member of the Ohio Republican party and was most recently an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio. Pfeifer wa ...

(who received 1,947,916 votes).

Personal life

Suster married Patricia Hocevar on July 19, 1974 at St. Paschal Baylon Parish in Highland Heights, Ohio. They have three children and seven grandchildren.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suster, Ron Democratic Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives Living people Case Western Reserve University alumni 1942 births