Richard B. Persinger
Richard Burwell Persinger, a New York lawyer, was born a Salemite in 1913 on Market Street and lived on College Avenue most of his student days. At 82, “Dick” still remembers hiking up Twelve O’clock Knob with his family, racing around Salem back alleys in his friend’s dog cart, and planting some black walnut trees in the back yard, trees he cannot now reach around. Later, as Eagle Scouts, Dick and his friend Bill Camper (who became City Manager of Raleigh, North Carolina) ran a top-notch boy Scout troop; they were known to be as strict as Mrine sergeants but the troop won all kinds of competitions. At Salem High School, where he graduated in the Class of 1930, Persinger was in the Latin Club and on the debate team.
Richard earned his B.A. degree at Roanoke College in three years. During the time, he was an ardent member of the Salem Rescue Squad, helping to acquire and even build some of its equipment, including a homemade diving helmet. Local doctors respected the crew’s expertise at resuscitation, burn treatment, and other techniques of first aid.
Persinger’s wife, the former Mildred Tilfhman Emory of Salem, and children used to roll their eyes when Dad would get started with tales of the Depression, especially about the two hot summers as a teenager that he spent sorting locomotive parts on the wharf of the N&W Railway, a job he knew he was lucky to have.
Between college and graduate studies, Persinger taught adults in Roanoke County who wanted to further their education and taught English at Salem High School. His classes often had forty students in them!
While at the University of Virginia Law School, Dick undertook some legal research published by the University; was elected to the Law Review and to the rary Raven Society; and graduated second in the Class of 1939. After admission to the Virginia Bar, he was admitted to the New York Bar and the practice of law in New York City for over 40 years. He was associated with two noted law firms for 15 years. During this time he was admitted to practice in state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court; Richard developed expertise in a variety of fields.
Together with an associate, Marshall Jacobs, Dick established a private law firm, now know at Jacobs, Persinger, and Parker. Top-rated, it was cited during their tenure by other lawyers as he best small law firm in New York. During this time, Persinger was a member of the usual professional organizations and occasionally lectured at the Practicing Law Institute.
Dick was an enthusiastic sailor, having bought his first boat on Carvins Cove in Roanoke, Virginia. At the age of 50, despite a full work schedule, he took flying lessons, became a licensed pilot, and bought a plane which for 20 years was enjoyed by the family members living at Dobbs Ferry, New York, where he still resides.
In recognition of his outstanding career achievements, in 1996 Richard Burwell Persinger was among the charter members inducted into the Salem Alumni Hall of Fame established by the Salem Educational Foundation and Alumni Association.
