Former Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Thomas Robert Cornish passed away on February 2, 2022 at the age of 77. Judge Cornish served this Court from 1977 until 1984 when he returned to private practice. In 1994 he was appointed United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of Oklahoma and served with distinction until his retirement in 2021. He graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1966 with a bachelor of science in Business, was awarded his Juris Doctorate from the University of Oklahoma in 1968, and then earned a Master of Laws from the University of Virginia in 1982.
Judge Cornish was a leader in various committees and organizations, including the Oklahoma Court on the Judiciary, Chairman of the Governor’s Commission on Reform of State Government in Oklahoma, Chairman of the Oklahoma Development Finance Authority, the Juvenile Delinquency Committee of the Oklahoma Crime Commission, the Board of Governors of the Oklahoma Bar Association, and the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees of St. Gregory’s University, Shawnee, Oklahoma.