J. Craig Wright

Who was J. Craig Wright?

J. Craig Wright was a former Republican justice of the Ohio Supreme Court who served in that office from 1985 to 1996.

Justice Wright was born June 21, 1929, in Chillicothe, Ohio to Harry Jr. and Marjorie Riddle Wright and grew up in Lima, Ohio. He graduated from Woodberry Forest School in 1947, received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky in 1951 and graduated from Yale Law School in 1954. From 1955 through 1956, he served as a special agent in the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps. Upon completion of his military service, he entered private practice with the law firm of Wright, Gilbert and Jones in Columbus, Ohio.

His judicial career began with his election to the Franklin County Common Pleas Court in 1970, where he served as a judge in The General Division for 14 years.

He defeated incumbent Justice James P. Celebrezze in November 1984 to win election to his first term on the Supreme Court and was re-elected in 1990. He was replaced by Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton after retiring from the Supreme Court in 1996.

Following his retirement from the Supreme Court, Justice Wright entered private practice in Columbus, Ohio. He retired from private practice in 2003 and served by assignment of the Chief Justice on the Ohio Court of Claims through 2009.