Roy Noble Lee (October 19, 1915 – January 21, 2015) was an American judge who served as Justice of the

Supreme Court of Mississippi The Supreme Court of Mississippi is the highest court in the state of Mississippi. It was established in the first constitution of the state following its admission as a State of the Union in 1817 and was known as the High Court of Errors and Appe ...

from 1976 to 1983, and as chief justice from 1987 to 1993. Born in

Madison County, Mississippi Madison County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 95,203. The county seat is Canton. The county is named for U.S. President James Madison. Madison County is part of the Jackson, ...

, Lee was the son of

Percy Mercer Lee Percy Mercer Lee (c. 1893 – February 6, 1969)"Retired Chief Justice Lee Taken By Death", ''Biloxi Sun Herald'' (February 7, 1969), p. 2. was a justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi from 1950 to 1966, serving as chief justice from 1964 to ...

, who also served on the state supreme court. Lee received his bachelor's degree from

Mississippi College Mississippi College (MC) is a private Baptist university in Clinton, Mississippi. Founded in 1826, MC is the second-oldest Baptist-affiliated college or university in the United States and the oldest college or university in Mississippi. Histor ...

and his law degree from

Cumberland University Cumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee. It was founded in 1842. The campus's current historic buildings were constructed between 1892 and 1896. History 1842-1861 The university was founded by the Cumberlan ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. He was an FBI agent from 1942–44 and served in the

United States Navy Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Se ...

s during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

."Sid Salter: Roy Noble Lee helped Modernize state courts"
''Daily Journal'' (dailyjournal.com), Tupelo, Mississippi, January 25, 2015, updated May 18, 2017. Retrieved June 27, 2021. Lee was a state district attorney and then a state circuit court judge. Following the resignation of Justice Henry Lee Rodgers in January 1976, Governor

Cliff Finch Charles Clifton Finch (April 4, 1927 – April 22, 1986) was an American politician who served as the 57th Governor of the U.S. state of Mississippi, from 1976 to 1980. Early life Finch was born on April, 1927 in the village of Pope in Pan ...

appointed Lee to the seat, and Lee was sworn in on March 1, 1976. Leslie Southwick
Mississippi Supreme Court Elections: A Historical Perspective 1916-1996
18 Miss. C. L. Rev. 115 (1997-1998). In the primary election that Summer, Lee "made a personal campaign through the district", and won more than 70% of the vote. He ran unopposed in the general election. Lee was reelected without oppoistion in 1984, and announced in 1992 that he would retire rather than running for a third full term. Lee died in January 2015 at his home in

Forest, Mississippi Forest is a city and the county seat of Scott County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 5,684 at the 2010 census and the population is a minority-majority. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total a ...

, aged 99.

References

1915 births 2015 deaths People from Madison County, Mississippi Mississippi College alumni Cumberland School of Law alumni Chief Justices of the Mississippi Supreme Court Mississippi state court judges Military personnel from Mississippi Federal Bureau of Investigation agents United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy reservists People from Forest, Mississippi 20th-century American judges {{US-state-judge-stub