Person

Belloni, Robert C. (Robert Clinton), 1919-1999

Robert Clinton Belloni was born in Riverton, Oregon, in 1919. He attended the University of Oregon, graduating in 1941. He was then drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942 and served as a medical officer in the Pacific Theater. While in the Army, he met Doris Adams, and they were married in 1946. They later had two children. After World War II, Belloni returned to Oregon in 1946 and took a job in McMinnville as an administrator for a small hospital. He then studied law at the University of Oregon, graduating in 1951. He worked as a lawyer in Coos County, served as chair of the Democratic Central Committee of Coos County, and was mayor of Myrtle Point. He was appointed to the Circuit Court of Southern Oregon by Governor Robert Holmes, and served from 1957 to 1967. He then served as a U.S. District Court judge in Portland, Oregon, from 1967 until 1984, when he took senior status. He presided over Sohappy v. Smith, which was a landmark case for Native American fishing rights. He served as chief judge of the court from 1971 to 1976. He and Doris divorced in 1984. In 1989, Belloni and Faye Johnson Dement were married. He remained a senior judge until his death in 1999.

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