In memoriam: Fletcher G. Rush.

• Author: Harkness, Jr., John F.
• Position: Obituary

Fletcher O. Rush, former Florida Bar president, died in Orlando on January 7. Fletcher served the Bar from July 1966 to June 1967, when the country experienced the country experienced escalation of the Vietnam War, riots in America's cities, and a fire! in the Apollo 1 cockpit at Cape Canaveral that took the lives three astronauts.

Change and challenge were everywhere in America in the mid '60s. But the steady commitment of this Bar leader was pivotal in guiding some of the enduring accomplishments for Florida in the improvement of the practice of law and the availability of legal services.

Fletcher Gray Rush was born in 1917 and graduated in 1942 from the University of Florida College of Law where he was president of Florida Blue Key and a member of Phi Kappa Phi. After graduation, he was called to active duty in the U.S. Army and saw combat duty in Europe. He was discharged as a captain in 1946, the same year he began practicing law in Orlando. He was the senior member of Rush Marshall Jones & Kelly, P.A., when he retired in 1992.

During his term the Clients' Security Fund became operational. Regarding the program, he said, "The Fund will prove to be an important factor in the years ahead in re restoring and enhancing the image of the legal profession in Florida."

Fletcher lead the proposal to allow The Florida Bar to screen and investigate judicial candidates submitted to the governor for judicial vacancies. When Governor Claude Kirk agreed to forward the names of his prospective appointees to a Bar screening committee for a confidential investigation, Fletcher believed this opportunity would ensure only high caliber judicial appointments.

Recognizing the harmful impact of unauthorized practice of law, he accelerated investigation of UPL. "We are building a body of law in this UPL field which will assist the Bar in...