Robert Mashall Callister

Robert Marshall Callister was born November 24, 1921, in Washington, D.C., and was raised by his mother, the former Ada Hemsley, and his father, Norval Callister, in Southern California and Utah. After graduating from high school in Salt Lake City, he attended the University of Utah, interrupting his studies to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the South and later to enlist in the Army during World War II, where he attended officers training school. He returned to the University of Utah and graduated in 1947, then moved to Las Vegas, where he sought work as a law clerk and was hired by the firm of Morse and Graves.

Callister passed the Nevada bar in March 1948 and joined the firm of Ruyman and Gregory, which later became Gregory and Callister. In the early 1950s he opened his own firm, which in time became Callister and Reynolds after he brought his son-in-law, Ronald Reynolds, into the practice. The son of prominent Salt Lake City criminal defense attorney Norval Callister - whose firm of Callister, Duncan and Nebeker continued to operate in Salt Lake City - Robert came from a family of lawyers, counting three uncles among them.

Over a half-century of practice in Las Vegas, Callister litigated cases in nearly every field of law. Though he practiced criminal law early in his career, he did not specialize in it, instead becoming involved in divorce law and handling personal injury cases for many years - including serving as co-counsel with prominent attorney Melvin Belli on two Las Vegas personal injury cases. In his later years he practiced federal and state credit law, representing the Nevada League of Credit Unions among his many clients. He died October 16, 1999, at the age of 77.