The Nevada Supreme Court building Monday, March 4, 2019.
Photo: David Calvert / The Nevada Independent
Robert Rose, a former Nevada Supreme Court chief justice who served 18 years on the state high court after previously serving as lieutenant governor, has died. He was 82.
Rose died Monday, Supreme Court spokesperson Emily Creighton said. Location and cause of death were not immediately available, she said.
"He gave so much to our state throughout his life," Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said of Rose on Twitter.
Between joining the state high court in 1989 and stepping down in 2007, Rose served three stints as chief justice. He served as a senior judge until 2020.
The Supreme Court said in a statement that Rose was a driving force behind numerous initiatives to improve the state's court system in areas such as access to justice and judicial performance. He presided over the expansion of the Supreme Court from five members to seven and the use of three-justice panels to allow consideration of more cases.
"He was a valued and distinguished colleague on the court with a keen intellect and sense of justice. His dedication to our state and its citizens will be long remembered," the statement said.
A Democrat who served as Washoe County district attorney, Rose was lieutenant governor from 1975–79, serving while Mike O'Callaghan was governor.
Rose ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1978, losing to Republican Robert List.
While lieutenant governor, Rose broke a deadlock in the Nevada State Senate to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, which then failed in the State Assembly.
Some believed Rose's vote cost him the governorship in 1978, former Nevada Supreme Court Justice Mark Gibbons told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Rose was proud of casting that vote despite it being controversial at the time, said Gibbons, who served with Rose on the court from 2003 to 2006.
Rose became a District Court judge in Clark County in 1986 before winning a seat on the state Supreme Court in 1988 and being reelected twice.
He is survived by his wife, Jolene, Creighton said. Information on services was not immediately available, she said.
