Robert F. Stephens

Robert Francis Stephens, Jr. (August 16, 1927 – April 13, 2002) was an American politician, lawyer, and judge. Early life Robert Francis Stephens, Jr. was born August 26, 1928, in Covington, Kentucky, to Robert Francis and his first wife, Helen Macke. He was the only child of this marriage, which ended in divorce, but his father would marry twice more, and each marriage brought Stephens a step-sibling. At age 7, Stephens moved with his mother to Miami, Florida, where her new husband, Joseph Dressman, was the city editor for the Miami Herald. When the paper was sold, Stephens' step-father lost his job, and the family moved back to Northern Kentucky, where Dressman got a job with The Cincinnati Times-Star. Stephens graduated as valedictorian of his class at Beechwood High School in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, in 1945. He joined the United States Navy for a year and served in World War II before completing a pre-law curriculum at Indiana University in 1948 and receiving his law degree from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1951. After graduation, he worked as a law clerk for future Kentucky Governor Bert T. Combs, then a justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals. In 1952, he began work as an attorney for the state Department of Insurance. From 1953 to 1958, he served as counsel for Savage Lumber and Manufacturing Company, a Lexington company owned by his father-in-law. For the next three years, he was a partner in a Lexington law firm with Harry B. Miller, Jr., but left the firm and pursued a solo legal practice and political career. In 1985, Stephens served as a vestry member at Lexington's Christ Church Cathedral.