Roger D. Foley

Roger Drummond Foley (April 28, 1917 – January 7, 1996) was a United States federal judge.

Born in Goldfield, Nevada, Foley was the eldest of five sons of Helen Drummond and Roger Thomas Foley, the latter also having been a federal district judge in Nevada. The family moved to Las Vegas in 1928. He received an LL.B. from the University of San Francisco School of Law. During World War II, Foley flew over 50 combat missions as a first lieutenant bombardier and navigator in the United States Army Air Corps. He was a deputy district attorney of Clark County, Nevada from 1948 to 1951, then district attorney of that county until 1955. He was in private practice in Las Vegas, Nevada, from 1956 to 1958, and was the Attorney General of Nevada from 1959 to 1962.

On June 12, 1962, Foley was nominated by President John F. Kennedy to a new seat on the United States District Court for the District of Nevada created by 75 Stat. 80. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 29, 1962, and received his commission on July 2, 1962. He served as chief judge from 1963 to 1980, assuming senior status on October 29, 1982, and serving in that capacity until his death, in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1996. The Foley Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Las Vegas is named for the family, as a whole.

Sources

• Roger D. Foley at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.