Stanley Grimm, husband, father, grandfather, lawyer, former circuit court judge and retired state of Missouri Court of Appeals judge, died Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012.
He and Jane Morgan of Sedalia, Mo., were married between semesters of his first year in law school. His father, the Rev. Victor Grimm, officiated at the Feb. 1, 1957, ceremony at Trinity Lutheran Church in Sedalia.
She survives. Other survivors include three sons (all of whom are lawyers) and their spouses, David and Beth of Austin, Texas, Mark and Julie of St. Louis and John and Michelle of Cape Girardeau; seven grandchildren, Alex who is attending Texas A&M University at College Station, Andrew who is attending the University of Georgia in Athens, Morgan, Bridgette and Reed of St. Louis, and Natalie and Maggie of Cape Girardeau. In addition, a brother, Bob of Los Altos, Calif.; a brother-in-law, Stan Geiger of Portland, Ore.; and numerous nieces and nephews.
A sister, Donna Geiger; and a sister-in-law, Marion Grimm, preceded him.
Stan was born April 28, 1933, in Macon, Mo., where he attended public schools. He received a bachelor of science degree in business administration from Northeast Missouri State Teachers College (now Truman State) in 1954.
He spent the next 21 months in the U.S. Army as an enlisted man, including 16 months in Japan.
He received his LLB from the University of Missouri School of Law in 1959, and he and Jane moved to Cape Girardeau, where they became members of St. Andrew Lutheran Church. He was active in church, serving as chairman, chief elder and chairman or member of numerous committees.
Stan was the first president of the board of directors of Southeast Missouri State University Lutheran Campus Center. He was heavily involved in the formation and development of the Lutheran Home for the Aged and was serving on its board of directors at the time of his death.
He was also active at Southeast Hospital, serving on the board from 1972 until he accepted honorary status in 1992. While on the board, he chaired numerous committees and was president of the board from 1983 to 1985.
Stan served on the board of the then Cape Girardeau County Association for Retarded Children eight years, Presbyterian Home for Children six years and the Greater Cape Girardeau Development Corp. more than 40 years.
He practiced law from 1959 through 1972 with the law firms of Oliver & Oliver and Rader and Grimm. In 1972, the people of Bollinger and Cape Girardeau counties elected him circuit judge of the 32nd Circuit. He was re-elected without opposition in 1978 and 1984. Then Gov. John Ashcroft appointed him to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, in 1987 and he served on that court until 1998, when he resigned and became a mediator and arbitrator. For a number of years, St. Louis Magazine has named him as one of the best lawyers in the state in the area of alternative dispute resolution.
He served as president of Missouri Council of Juvenile Court Judges in 1977, and in 1981 he served as president of State Trial Judges Association. The Missouri Supreme Court appointed him chairman of the Committee on Jury Instructions and Charges-Criminal in 1981, which prepared instructions that are used in every jury criminal case in Missouri. He received the Missouri Supreme Court Distinguished Service Award in 1993, one of two judges to receive the initial award. He received the Missouri Bar Foundation's Spurgeon Smithson Award in 2000 for extraordinary service toward the increase and diffusion of justice in society. Last week, he received the first Lifetime Achievement Award from Lutheran Family and Children's Services of Missouri.
Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. today at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home.
A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Monday at St. Andrew Church, with the Rev. Paul Short officiating.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials be made to the Lutheran Home for the Aged, 2825 Bloomfield Road, Cape Girardeau, MO 63703; Saxony Lutheran High School, 2004 Saxony Memorial Drive, Jackson, MO 63755; or a charity of your choice.
Online condolences may be shared at www.fordandsonsfuneralhome.com.
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