Kay B. Cobb

{{Short description|American politician and judge (1942–2023)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| birth_name = Kay Beevers Cobb

| birth_date = {{birth date|1942|2|28}}

| birth_place = Cleveland, Mississippi, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|5|26|1942|2|28}}

| death_place = Lenoir City, Tennessee, U.S.

| office = Justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi

| termstart = April 1, 1999

| termend = May 1, 2007

| appointer = Kirk Fordice

| predecessor = James L. Roberts Jr.

| successor = Ann Hannaford Lamar

| state_senate1 = Mississippi State

| district1 = 9th

| termstart1 = January 7, 1992

| termend1 = January 2, 1996

| preceded1 = Johnny Morgan

| succeeded1 = Gray Tollison

}}

Kay Beevers Cobb (February 28, 1942 – May 26, 2023) was an American politician and judge who served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi. She also served in the Mississippi Senate.

Raised on a farm in Cleveland, Mississippi, Cobb graduated from Cleveland High School before graduating from Mississippi University for Women in 1963. As her husband was in the U.S. Air Force, she then taught elementary school to children of military personnel for three years. She later worked for the Texas Employment Commission for five years as a job placement counselor for the handicapped and for people recently released from prison.{{Cite web |title=State of Mississippi Judiciary |url=https://courts.ms.gov/news/2007/030507Cobb.pdf |access-date=2023-05-28 |website=courts.ms.gov}}

In 1975, Cobb enrolled in the University of Mississippi School of Law in Oxford, Mississippi, where she earned a Juris Doctor degree in 1978.

Cobb represented Mississippi's 9th senatorial district in the Mississippi Senate from January 1992 to January 1996.{{Cite web|title=Justice Kay Cobb's portrait to be presented to Supreme Court Sept. 6 - State of Mississippi Judiciary News|url=https://courts.ms.gov/news/2018/08.28.18Justice%20Cobb%20portrait.php|access-date=2021-05-18|website=courts.ms.gov}} A Republican, she lived in Oxford and represented Lafayette County.Women State and Territorial Legislators by Elizabeth M. Cox page 167.

On April 1, 1999, Cobb was appointed to the Supreme Court of Mississippi by Governor Kirk Fordice,Mississippi Official and Statistical Register (2001), p. 121. to complete the unexpired term of former Justice James L. Roberts Jr. Cobb was elected to a full term on the court in November 2000, and served until her retirement on May 1, 2007.

Cobb died at her home in Lenoir City, Tennessee, on May 26, 2023, at the age of 81.{{cite news|url = https://www.wlbt.com/2023/05/27/former-mississippi-supreme-court-justice-passes-away/|title = Former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice passes away|work = WLBT|date = May 27, 2023|accessdate = May 27, 2023}}