W. Robert Alderson, Jr.

June 24, 1939 - June 5, 2020

Bob received a B.A. degree from the University of Kansas, where he also attended graduate school. He received his J.D. degree in 1967 from Washburn University School of Law, where he was a member of the Washburn Law Journal Board of Editors. He was a member of the Transportation Lawyers Association (TLA), serving as President from 1999-2000. He received TLA’s Distinguished Service Award in 1993, and in 2008, he was presented the Association’s highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award. Bob was also a member of the American Bar Association; Kansas Bar Association, which awarded him the Outstanding Service Award in 1992; Topeka Bar Association (Board of Directors, 2016-2020); and Canadian Transport Lawyers’ Association, having served on its Board of Directors in 2001-2002.

Bob was the recipient of the Citation for Distinguished Service from the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Laws and Ordinances in 1976, and the Award for Public Service, presented by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation in 1980. He co-authored, with Mark Burghart, Chapter 4, “Operating Problems,” Kansas Corporation Law and Practice, Kansas Bar Association (1998). He was a frequent presenter at seminars and continuing legal education programs on transportation issues, law office management, legal ethics and corporation law for various organizations, including the Kansas Bar Association, Topeka Bar Association, Transportation Lawyers Association, Transportation Law Institute and Washburn Law Institute.

Following his death in 2020, Bob was posthumously awarded the Honorable E. Newton Vickers Professionalism Award by the Topeka Bar Association. This award recognizes a member of the Topeka Bar Association who, by his conduct, honesty, integrity and courtesy, best exemplify, represent and encourage other lawyers to follow the highest standards of the legal profession, including those contained in the Topeka Bar Association Creed of Professional Courtesy.