May/June 2004 issue
In Memoriam: Judge Robert E. Brauer of the Eastern District of Missouri
On June 8, 2004, retired U.S. Bankruptcy Judge
Robert E. Brauer, died of heart complications. He
was 81.
Robert Brauer was born in Staunton, Illinois.
After graduating from high school in 1942 he
joined the U.S. Air Force, where he achieved the
rank of First Lieutenant and served as a navigator
on a B-29 based in Guam.
After World War II he attended Washington
University. He received his bachelor’s degree in
1948, and three years later he received his law
degree from the Washington University School
of Law.
He began his legal career at the firm of
Mattingly, Boss and Richards. In 1953 he went to
work as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern
District of Missouri. In 1960 he left the U.S.
Attorney’s Office and joined the firm of Fassieur,
Long, and Yawitz, where he became partner a
year later.
In 1961 he was appointed as a judge for the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of
Missouri, where he served for over 25 years.
During his time on the bench he presided over
some high profile cases, including the 1975
“credit card case,” in which he ruled that a card
holder who went on a spending spree six months
prior to filing bankruptcy could not have the
PAGE 4 U.S. COURTS LIBRARY, EIGHTH CIRCUIT MAY/JUNE 2004
8th Circuit Library Web Site: http://www.ce8.circ8.dcn/lib/libhome.htm
resulting debts discharged in bankruptcy. In a
1976 case of first impression, he ruled that the
Teamsters Local 600 could be considered a person
under the bankruptcy code for the purposes of
filing bankruptcy.
In 1986 Judge Brauer retired from the bench and
relocated to Bonne Terre. He is survived by his
wife, Billie, and his two stepdaughters, Joann and
Jackie.
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