— by By Brad Shannon, the Olympian.com —
Robert F. Utter
Former state Supreme Court justice Robert Utter, who had resigned in protest of the court’s handling of death penalty cases in 1995, died late Wednesday at the age of 84.
The Administrative Office of the Courts announced the death, and a public service is planned Nov. 8 at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia.
Utter served on the court for 23 years and in retirement had worked with his wife, Betty, in Rwanda on a University of Washington project that dealt with how courts approached justice in the aftermath of genocide that took 800,000 lives in a 100-day fury of ethnic murders by Hutus and Tutsis in that African state in 1994.
“One of the things about my dad is he was a humanitarian through and through – including with his family,” son John Utter said Thursday. “He certainly never gave up on us. I think he showed that in his life – he never gave up on people. He created a lot of deep friendships that way and inspired a lot of people.’’
[Known as ‘Judge Utter’ to many on Orcas, Bob was an early developer/owner of Eagle Lake and spent many summers at Orcas docks, along with his wife Betty. He leaves many Orcas relations, including his cousin Susan Malins and dear friends the Harvey family and Dale and Kay Mattson.]
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RIP. Aside from all his accomplishments he was a great neighbor. I am one of the kids who grew up playing in “Utter’s Pond” on his property in Pt. Lawrence. It was very kind and generous of him to give the neighbors access and we all have great memories of our time spent there.