J. Leroy Adair

Who was J. Leroy Adair?

Jackson Leroy Adair was a U.S. Representative from Illinois and a federal judge.

Born in Clayton, Illinois, Adair attended public and high schools, and Illinois College at Jacksonville. He was graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1911. He was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He moved to Quincy, Illinois, in 1913 and continued the practice of law. He also engaged in agricultural pursuits and in the manufacture of medicine for livestock. City attorney 1914-1916. He served as prosecuting attorney of Adams County 1916-1920 and 1924-1928. He served as member of the State senate 1928-1932.

Adair was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-third and Seventy-fourth Congresses. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1936. He was appointed United States district judge for the southern district of Illinois in 1937 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and served until his death in Quincy, Illinois, January 19, 1956. He was interred in South Side Cemetery, Clayton, Illinois.