William R. Moser

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix = The Honorable

|name = William R. Moser

|image =

|caption =

|office = Judge of the {{nowrap|Wisconsin Court of Appeals}} {{nowrap|District I}}

| term_start = August 1, 1978

| term_end = July 31, 1992

| predecessor = Position established

| successor = Charles B. Schudson

|office1 = Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge {{nowrap|for the 2nd Circuit, Branch 16}}

| term_start1 = January 1, 1967

| term_end1 = August 1, 1978

| predecessor1 = Branch established

| successor1 = Branch abolished

|state2 = Wisconsin

|state_senate2 = Wisconsin

|district2 = 6th

| term_start2 = January 1, 1957

| term_end2 = February 1, 1962

| predecessor2 = William A. Schmidt

| successor2 = Martin J. Schreiber

|birth_name = William Robert Moser

| birth_date = {{birth date|1927|10|14}}

| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|4|11|1927|10|14}}

| restingplace = Wood National Cemetery
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

| party = Democratic

| spouse = Mary Bernadette

| children = {{unbulleted list

| William Moser

| Mary Magdalen

}}

| father =

| mother =

| relatives =

| religion =

| education = {{unbulleted list

| St. Norbert College {{small|(B.S.)}}

| Marquette University Law School {{small|(LL.B.)}}

}}

|allegiance = {{flag|United States|1945}}

|branch = {{flag|United States Army}}

|rank =

|serviceyears = 1945–1947

|commands =

|unit =

| battles =

}}

William Robert Moser (October 14, 1927{{spaced ndash}}April 11, 2003) was an American lawyer and judge, he was Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals for 13 years. Earlier, he was a Wisconsin Circuit Court judge in Milwaukee County, and represented Milwaukee County in the Wisconsin State Senate as a Democrat.

Background

Moser was born October 14, 1927, in Chicago. He was educated in Milwaukee parochial schools (St. Michael's Elementary and St. John's Cathedral High School. From 1945-1947 he served in the United States Army as a paratrooper and a criminal investigator; then earned his Bachelor of Science degree at St. Norbert College, and LL.B. from Marquette University Law School, and went into practice as an attorney. He became a member of the Advisory Council to Mayor of Milwaukee Frank P. Zeidler, and a director or active member of various civic, veterans and fraternal organizations.

Legislative office

In 1956 he was elected to the 6th Senatorial District (the 7th, 10th, & 13th Wards of the City of Milwaukee) to succeed fellow Democrat William A. Schmidt, who was not running for re-election. Moser obtained a plurality in a four-way Democratic primary election against State Representative Cecil B. Brown Jr., former State Representative John Schaller, and Brown Deer village trustee Fred W. Voigt; and was unopposed in the general election.[http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBk1958 Toepel, M. G.; Kuehn, Hazel L., eds. The Wisconsin Blue Book, 1958 Madison: State of Wisconsin, 1958; pp. 22, 671, 776] He served as the floor leader for Senate Democrats in the 1960 session, and was elected a Kennedy delegate to the 1960 Democratic National Convention. He easily turned aside challenges from Schaller in the 1960 primary, and from Republican Delbert Fowler in the general election; and served again as the Democratic floor leader in the 1961 session, leading the fight against the adoption of a sales tax in Wisconsin;[https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2003/related/enrolled/sjr35.pdf "2003 Senate Joint Resolution 235: ENROLLED JOINT RESOLUTION Relating to: the life and public service of William R. Moser." State of Wisconsin] but resigned effective Feb. 1, 1962 to become a Milwaukee County judge. He was succeeded by fellow Democrat Martin J. Schreiber.Toepel, M. G.; Theobald, H. Rupert, eds. [http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBk1962 The Wisconsin Blue Book, 1962] Madison: State of Wisconsin, 1962; pp. 21, 758, 792, 866.

Judiciary

In 1971, he was elected without opposition as a Wisconsin Circuit Court judge.[http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBk1971 The state of Wisconsin Blue Book, 1971 Madison: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, distributed by Document Sales, 1971; p. 351.] He was re-elected in 1977, and in April 1978 was elected to the newly created Court of Appeals District 1.Theobald, H. Rupert; Robbins, Patricia V., eds. [http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBk1979 The State of Wisconsin 1979-1980 Blue Book] Madison: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, distributed by Document Sales, 1979-1980; p. 680. In 1980, he fended off a re-election challenge from Christ T. Seraphim, winning by 195,256 to 137,262.Theobald, H. Rupert; Robbins, Patricia V., eds. [http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBk1981 The State of Wisconsin 1981-1982 Blue Book] Madison: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, distributed by Document Sales, 1981-1982; p. 866. He was unopposed in 1986, and became Presiding Judge of the District 1 Court of Appeals. He did not run for re-election in 1992, and was succeeded on the Court by Charles B. Schudson.