Mallard, Raymond B.

Raymond Bowden Mallard was born in Faison, N.C., on 20 February 1908 to J.R. Mallard and Eva Bowden Mallard. He was an attorney, state legislator, North Carolina Superior Court judge, and first chief judge of the North Carolina State Court of Appeals. His grandfather, S.A. Bowden, was a farmer and friends with a number of lawyers in the community and was influential in Mallard's interest in law.

Mallard earned a law degree from the Wake Forest College School of Law in 1931. From 1931 to 1955, he practiced law in a number of public offices. In 1939, Mallard was elected as a Democrat to the North Carolina State House of Representatives, where he served for a single session then chose not to run for reelection. During World War II, he enlisted at Fort Bragg, N.C., and served one year in the United States Army.

In July 1955, Mallard was appointed by North Carolina Governor Luther Hodges as judge of the Superior Court, where he served twelve years in various locations within the state. During this time, he presided over several historically significant trials in North Carolina, including the Henderson strike trials in 1959, involving eight union men accused of plotting to cripple the Harriet-Henderson Cotton Mills in Vance County, N.C. In 1964, he presided over a series of trespassing cases involving civil rights demonstrations in Chapel Hill, N.C.

In July 1967, Mallard was appointed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals and was immediately named the court's first chief judge. He served in that capacity until the announcement of his retirement on August 1973 and was then named Emergency Judge of the Court of Appeals, taking cases as his health permitted. During his long career as a jurist, Mallard was known for running his courtroom with an iron fist but a fair hand.

In 1935, Mallard married Lula McGougan Mallard. He and his wife had one daughter, Anne Elizabeth Sanders. Raymond B. Mallard died 20 July 1979 in Tabor City, N.C.

From the guide to the Raymond B. Mallard Papers, 1937-1970s, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)