Lycurgus R. Varser
{{Short description|American judge (1878–1959)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Lycurgus R. Varser
|image = Lycurgus Rayner Varser (1878–1959).png
|office = Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court
|appointer = Angus Wilton McLean
|term_start = March 16, 1925
|term_end = December 31, 1925
|predecessor = Walter P. Stacy
|successor = Willis J. Brogden
|birth_date = {{birth date|1878|8|13}}
|birth_place = Gates County, North Carolina
|death_date = {{death date and age|1959|10|19|1878|8|13}}
|death_place = Charlotte, North Carolina
|education = Wake Forest University (BA, LLB)
|signature = Signature of Lycurgus Rayner Varser (1878–1959).png
}}
Lycurgus Rayner Varser (August 13, 1878 – October 19, 1959){{cite web |title=Judge Lycurgus R. Varser (Supreme Court of North Carolina) |url=https://www.courtlistener.com/person/5315/lycurgus-r-varser/ |website=CourtListener |accessdate=5 April 2020 |language=en-us}} was an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, serving for nine months in 1925.{{cite web |title=Presentation of the Portrait of LYCURGUS RAYNER VARSER |url=https://www.nccourts.gov/assets/inline-files/ncsct353varser.pdf?XnmIBHTSqPCizCLd9vUsGp6EY1aRJpCi |website=North Carolina Judicial Branch |accessdate=5 April 2020}}
Biography
Varser was born in Gates County, North Carolina, and attended Reynoldson Academy.
He began attending Wake Forest University in 1895, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1899 and his law degree in 1901. He was admitted to the bar in 1901. He took up the practice of law in Kinston, North Carolina. On June 29, 1904 he married Lily Ford Snead of Virginia.{{cite web |title=The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, June 30, 1904, Image 10 |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85038615/1904-06-30/ed-1/seq-10/#date1=1789&index=2&rows=20&words=Ford+Lily+Snead&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=Lily+Ford+Snead&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 |website=Library of Congress |accessdate=5 April 2020 |pages=10 |date=30 June 1904}} He remained in Kinston until 1911 when he moved to Lumberton, North Carolina. There, he joined the law firm of Angus Wilton McLean and Dickson McLean. By 1919, he was a director of the National Bank of Lumberton.{{cite book |title=Rand McNally Bankers Directory |chapter=January 1919 |chapter-url=https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/105/item/579674/content/pdf/rmbd_191901_15_directors |accessdate=5 April 2020 |date=January 1919}} He was elected to the North Carolina Senate in 1920, and reelected in 1922,{{cite web |title=History of the Supreme Court of North Carolina from January 1, 1919, until January 1, 1969 - Page 2 |url=https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll29/id/1098 |website=North Carolina Digital Collections |accessdate=5 April 2020 |language=en}} serving on various committees including the agriculture and appropriations committees.{{cite web |title=Journal of the Senate of the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina at its session of ... [serial] |url=https://archive.org/stream/journalofsenateo1921nort/journalofsenateo1921nort_djvu.txt |website=Internet Archive |publisher=Raleigh, N.C. : [The Senate] |accessdate=5 April 2020 |date=1859}} He became president of the North Carolina Bar Association in 1922, serving in that capacity until 1923.{{cite web |title=Past Presidents - North Carolina Bar Association |url=https://www.ncbar.org/about/past-presidents/ |website=North Carolina Bar Association |accessdate=5 April 2020}}
In 1925, Walter P. Stacy was appointed to be the chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, creating a vacancy at associate justice. Governor Angus McLean appointed Vargas, his former partner,{{cite web |title=Stacy was an icon of Robeson County scholars |url=https://www.robesonian.com/archive/76688/view-full_story-1639989-article-stacy_was_an_icon_of_robeson_county_scholars |website=Robesonian |accessdate=5 April 2020 |date=28 July 2015}} on March 16, 1925 to fill the vacancy. During his tenure, Vargas authored 65 opinions. He served as an associate justice for nine months, resigning the post on December 31, 1925."Varser Resigns Place on Bench of State Court; W. J. Brogden of Durham, Chosen as Successor to Supreme Court", Asheville Citizen-Times (December 21, 1925), p. 1.
Following retirement from the court, he returned to Lumberton where he formed the law firm of Varser, Lawrence, Proctor and McIntyre, practicing law with that firm until this death. He was appointed to The North Carolina State Board of Public Welfare in 1931,{{cite web |title=North Carolina historical review [1947 : January] |url=https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll9/id/4065 |website=North Carolina Digital Collections |accessdate=5 April 2020 |language=en}} but resigned from that position before the term expiration when he became a state bar examiner.{{cite web |title=Biennial report of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare to the General Assembly of North Carolina |url=https://www.archive.org/stream/biennialreporto1934nort/biennialreporto1934nort_djvu.txt |website=Internet Archive |publisher=Raleigh : The Board |accessdate=5 April 2020 |date=1918}} He was the chairman of the State Board of Law Examiners from 1933 until his death.
Varser died in his sleep at his home in Charlotte, North Carolina, with no preceding illness."Judge Varser Dies At 81", The Charlotte News (October 20, 1959), p. 20.
References
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{{succession box
|title=Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court
|before=Walter P. Stacy
|after=Willis J. Brogden
|years=1925–1925}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varser, Lycurgus R.}}
Category:North Carolina lawyers
Category:Justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court
Category:20th-century American judges