Former Court of Appeals Judges

William R. Moser

District I (1978-1992); Presiding Judge (1979-1983, 1985-1992)

William R. Moser served in District I from 1978 until his retirement in 1992.  He was presiding judge for eleven years. 

Moser was born in Chicago in 1927.  At the age of eighteen he enlisted in the paratroopers and was assigned to undercover work in the Philippines, according to a Milwaukee Journal profile that appeared when, at age thirty-three, he became one of the youngest floor leaders in the history of the Wisconsin legislature.  ("Having heavy responsibility thrust on him at a young age is not new to Moser," the writer noted.)  His political career had begun in 1956 when voters in Milwaukee's tenth district elected him to the state senate.  He was reelected in 1960.  He began his judicial career in 1962 as a county judge, and from 1966 to 1978 he was a circuit court judge.  

Moser earned a B.A. in history from St. Norbert College, an LL.B. from Marquette University, and an LL.M. from the University of Virginia.  He was an adjunct professor of law at Marquette University and wrote several law review articles about appellate process.  He was a member of American Judicature Society, American Bar Association, State Bar of Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Bar Foundation.

Moser died of a rare blood disease April 11, 2003, donating his body to the Medical College of Wisconsin for research.

For more on Moser, read the following news story from The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Moser spent life making a name for himself.

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