Rankin MacDougal Gibson (1916-2001) was a Democratic lawyer from

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

who settled in

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 occupied positions in the administration of Governor

Michael DiSalle Michael Vincent DiSalle (January 6, 1908September 16, 1981) was an American attorney and politician from Ohio. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as mayor of Toledo from 1948 to 1950, and as the 60th governor of Ohio from 1959 to 1963. ...

, and was appointed to 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 ...

in 1963 and 1964. Rankin Gibson was the son of Alexander and Murle Fletcher Gibson. He was born October 9, 1916, in Unionville, Missouri. He attended

Northeast Missouri State Teachers College Truman State University (TSU or Truman) is a public university in Kirksville, Missouri. It had 4,225 enrolled students in the fall of 2021 pursuing degrees in 52 undergraduate and 11 graduate programs. The university is named for U.S. Presiden ...

1934 to 1936, and graduated from the

University of Missouri School of Law The University of Missouri School of Law (Mizzou Law or MU Law) is the law school of the University of Missouri. It is located on the university's main campus in Columbia, forty minutes from the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City. The ...

in 1939. He passed the bar that year and opened a practice in Unionville. In 1940, he began working as an attorney for T.H. Mastin & Co., an insurance company in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. From 1945 to 1951, Gibson worked for the

Veteran's Administration The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers and ...

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

, St. Paul, Minnesota, and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He earned a bachelor of science in law from St. Paul College of Law in 1948 and a master of law from

George Washington Law School The George Washington University Law School (GW Law) is the law school of George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Established in 1865, GW Law is the oldest top law school in the national capital. GW Law offers the largest range of co ...

in 1950. In 1951 he worked for the Wage Stabilization Board as an enforcement and litigation attorney. He also joined the faculty of the

University of Toledo College of Law The University of Toledo College of Law is the law school at the University of Toledo, and is located on the university's main campus in a residential neighborhood in western Toledo, Ohio. The school is fully accredited by the American Bar Assoc ...

in 1951, working there until 1956. He was admitted to the

bar in 1954. In 1956, Gibson joined the

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

, firm ''DiSalle, Green, Haddad & Lynch''. He moved to Columbus, Ohio, in 1959, to serve as assistant to Ohio Governor

. For 1959 to 1961 he served on the Interstate Cooperation Committee and as chairman of the Governor's Committee on Public Information. He also taught at

Franklin University Franklin University is a private university with its main campus in Columbus, Ohio. It was founded in 1902 to serve the needs of adult students. On-site courses are offered at the university's campus in Columbus' Discovery District. However, mos ...

School of Law. He was director of the

Ohio Department of Commerce The Ohio Department of Commerce is the administrative department of the Ohio state government Ohio Rev. Code § 121.01 ''et seq.'' responsible for regulating banks and savings institutions, credit unions, mortgage lenders and consumer finance busi ...

, a member of the Ohio Water Pollution Board, The Civil War Centennial Commission, and the Ohio Housing Board from 1961 to 1962. In 1963, he was named to head the

Public Utilities Commission of Ohio The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) is the public utilities commission of the U.S. state of Ohio, charged with the regulation of utility service providers such as those of electricity, natural gas, and telecommunications as well as railr ...

. In 1962, Kingsley A. Taft was elected

Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court Bold indicates chief judge or chief justice. The Ohio Supreme Court was created by the Ohio Constitution of 1802 with three judges, and had three or four through 1851. In 1851, the number of judges was increased to five. In 1892, the number of jud ...

, starting Jan 1, 1963. This created a vacancy on the court, to which Governor LaSalle appointed Gibson. He was required to run for the unexpired portion of Taft's term in November 1964, and lost to Republican Paul W. Brown. Beginning in 1965, Gibson returned to private practice with ''Lucas, Predergast, Albright, Gibson and Newman''. In 1972, he was president of the

Ohio State Bar Association The Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of Ohio. History OSBA was founded on March 6, 1880 when the Cleveland Bar Association issued a call other Ohio local bar associations to meet at Case Hall in Cle ...

. Rankin Gibson married Eloise M. Corns on September 13, 1941. They had two children. He lived in

Galloway, Ohio Galloway is an unincorporated community west of the city of Columbus in southern Prairie Township, Franklin County, Ohio, United States. The 43119 ZIP Code, however (which carries a Galloway mailing address) covers a significant portion of rural ...

Rankin GIBSON Obituary - Cincinnati, Ohio , Legacy.com
Retrieved 2018-05-29. and died on June 4, 2001, at

West Jefferson, Ohio West Jefferson is a village in Madison County, Ohio, United States. The population was 4,222 at the 2010 census. Located along U.S. Route 40, the village has a fairly close relationship with the surrounding township, which include various ou ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Rankin Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court 1916 births 2001 deaths Ohio Democrats People from Unionville, Missouri Truman State University alumni University of Missouri School of Law alumni William Mitchell College of Law alumni George Washington University Law School alumni Politicians from Toledo, Ohio Lawyers from Columbus, Ohio University of Toledo faculty Franklin University faculty 20th-century American judges Lawyers from Toledo, Ohio People from Franklin County, Ohio