TOPEKA — After more than 40 years with the Kansas judicial branch, Richard Ross will hang up his editing pencil June 3 and retire from his job as the Supreme Court's official reporter, a position he has had since the court was still located in the Statehouse.
Ross says what he will miss most are the people.
"The judicial branch has been a great place to work," he said. "Everyone is professional and works hard. It's also a very friendly environment."
Ross was hired as second assistant to the official reporter in 1975, right after he graduated law school. Eighteen months later, in January 1978, he was named the official reporter by then Chief Justice Alfred Schroeder.
At just 28 years old, Ross is pretty sure he was the youngest reporter ever appointed, although he said he hasn't done the research to prove it. However, when he answered the call from the reporter of decisions for the U.S. Supreme Court to help develop a professional organization for reporters, he said, "I was easily the youngest person in the room." He is the last charter member to still belong to the Association of Reporters of Judicial Decisions.
When he published his first Kansas Reports, a bound volume of Supreme Court decisions, he dedicated it to his predecessor, William A. Dumars, to recognize him for publishing 60 volumes — 163 through 222 — which Ross deemed "a record accomplishment, since no previous Supreme Court Reporter published more than 36 volumes."
When Ross retires June 3, he will have published 81 volumes of the Kansas Reports and started volume 82. Volumes bearing Ross' name number 223 through 303. He can also take credit for 51 volumes of Kansas Court of Appeals Reports, numbered 2 through 52.
Chief Justice Lawton Nuss said that Ross exemplifies what it means to be a constitutional officer, a person who holds a position established by the Kansas Constitution.
"He has done an outstanding job for more than 40 years making sure the thousands of appellate courts' opinions are consistent in legal citation, style and clarity," he said.
Ross has worked for 57 Supreme Court justices and Court of Appeals judges, including eight chief justices and eight chief judges. He also can say he worked in both the Statehouse and the Kansas Judicial Center, where the appellate courts moved in September 1978.
Ross was present for the cornerstone ceremony in 1976 and he visited the building site many times during its construction, with a specific interest in watching progress on the Justice statue in the building's atrium. It was being carved from marble harvested from Cararra, Italy, a place he visited on a 10-week backpack trip across Europe before he started law school.
His longstanding interest in art led him to form many connections in the art community, especially after he started the Mulvane Art Fair in Topeka in 1993. Those connections were helpful when he was approached by Chief Justice Nuss to help make improvements to the conference room where the Supreme Court justices meet to discuss cases and to welcome guests.
"I was asked to find art by Kansas artists, so I made a few contacts," Ross said.
One contact he made was with the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery in Lindsborg, which has offered paintings on two-year loans at no cost. Other galleries and artists have offered pieces on loan as well.
"He did a superb job helping us transform our conference room into one we are proud to share with visitors, all at no cost to the taxpayer." Nuss said. "We are going to miss Richard, but we wish him the very best."