* Robert T. Hunter; Washington State Judge

Robert T. Hunter, 92, former chief justice of the Washington State Supreme Court. Hunter, who served on the court from 1957 to 1977 and was chief justice in 1969 and 1970, was considered the “motivating force” in establishing Washington’s state Court of Appeals. He convinced other justices and even some legislators that an appeals court was necessary to handle a growing number of cases awaiting Supreme Court review. Following legislative action, then-Gov. Dan Evans appointed 12 judges to three geographic divisions of that new appellate court in 1969. Hunter, born in Lawton, Okla., worked his way through the University of Washington Law School by selling magazine subscriptions. He began his law practice in Grand Coulee, Wash., in 1935 and later became city attorney there. He became a Superior Court judge in 1946, 11 years before he was elevated to the state Supreme Court. Hunter was a past grandmaster of the Odd Fellows Lodge and had been active in Lions Clubs. On Sunday in Laguna Hills.