Robert Franklin Butler

Robert Franklin Butler, Jr. - known to many as Bob - was born in Burbank, California, on December 5, 1943, and graduated from San Fernando Valley State in Northridge, California, in September 1966. He entered the United States Air Force that October, serving during the Vietnam War as a navigator and radar officer over Laos. He spent his last year of active duty as commander of a radar station on Barter Island, Alaska, until 1971.

Bob earned his J.D. from McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California, in 1974, and was admitted to practice in both California and Nevada in 1974/75. He built his legal career in Reno, Nevada, where he was a law partner with John Hawkins for more than 20 years at their office on Lakeside, working alongside his longtime legal assistant, Stephanie Ittner.

Alongside his law practice, Bob continued to serve in uniform, retiring from the Nevada Air Guard as a Lieutenant Colonel. Known as "Commander of the Cops," he served from 1978 to 1989 as commander of Air Weapons Security Police, leading his troops on numerous domestic and foreign training expeditions. In his later years he served as president of the Northern Nevada Senior Golf Club, advocating golf for people of all ages.