Honorable Laurance A. Hyde, 32°
(Feb 2, 1892 - Jan 21, 1978)
Member, Mercer Lodge, Princeton, Mo #35
32° Consistory of Western MO, Kansas City

Occupation: Attorney, Missouri Supreme Court Justice

Judge Laurance M. Hyde was born February 2, 1892, in Princeton, Missouri. He was educated in the Princeton public schools before attending the University of Missouri-Columbia. In 1914, he received his bachelor's degree and then pursued his law degree. Hyde was inspired to practice law because he came from a long line of generational attorneys starting with his great-great-grandfather. While in law school, he was a member of the legal honor societies Phi Delta Phi and the Order of the Coif. He earned his law degree (LL.B) in 1916.

Upon graduation, Hyde was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1916, and later that year became City Attorney of Princeton until 1917. He continued to practice law in Princeton as a member of the firm Hyde, Hyde and Fuller until 1931 except during his military service in World War I. In 1930, he was admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1931, he was appointed as a Republican commissioner for the Supreme Court of Missouri and reappointed in 1935 and 1939. He served there as a commissioner for 11 years until his appointment as judge.

When then-Governor Forrest C. Donnell appointed Hyde to the Court on December 31, 1942, he became the first judge appointed under the Missouri Non-Partisan Court Plan. On January 4, 1943, Governor Donnell announced that Judge Hyde, was elevated from the office of Commissioner to the Missouri Supreme Court Bench. In 1944 and again in 1954, he was retained for a full term. He served his first term as chief justice from August 12, 1949, to May 1, 1951, and his second term from April 12, 1960, to January 8, 1962. He also served as the first chairman of the National Conference of Chief Justices of the United States. During his 35.5 years at the Supreme Court of Missouri, he wrote nearly 900 opinions before he retired on December 31, 1966, when his term expired. The next month, in January of 1967, he reached mandatory retirement age of 75. Despite his retirement, he continued to serve the Court as a special commissioner/senior judge until 1976.

Judge Hyde died January 21, 1978, at the age of 85 in Jefferson City, Missouri.