CHARLESTON – Richard Neely, the youngest attorney elected to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and at one point the youngest jurist on a court of last resort in the English-speaking world, died Sunday.

Neely’s death was confirmed by a spokesperson for the state Supreme Court Monday. He was 79.

Public Information Officer Jennifer Bundy said Neely passed away in his home in Charleston surrounded by family and friends after battling liver cancer.

Neely served as a justice for two terms in 1972 and 1984 until he resigned in 1995. Before that, Neely served one term in the West Virginia House of Delegates starting in 1970. Neely also served as a captain in the U.S. Army during Vietnam.

During his two terms, he served as chief justice for the court five times. He formed his own law firm with Charleston attorney Michael Callaghan after leaving the Supreme Court.

A native of Fairmont, Neely was the youngest person to sit on the state Supreme Court and youngest state Supreme Court justice in the nation at the time in 1972. He has worked as an attorney since 1969.

Neely was also a candidate for the state Supreme Court in 2020. He challenged Chief Justice Tim Armstead, who was up for a full 12-year term after being appointed to replace former justice Menis Ketchum in 2019 and winning a special election to fill the remainder of Ketchum’s term shortly after.

Neely joined 2nd Judicial Circuit Judge David Hummel Jr. in challenging Armstead for his seat. Neely ran on his years of courtroom experience and his two terms as a Supreme Court justice.

“If you take your Ford F-150 into a garage because you have a problem with it, you need somebody who has seen an F-150 before to fix it,” Neely said. “You don’t try and hire a bunch of people who have never seen the inside of an F-150. The same thing is true with the courts. You have to know where the levers are that can be pulled, and I’m going to tell you what they are.”

Neely came in second in the June 9 Supreme Court race with 35.82-percent of the vote, with Armstead carrying 42.92 percent and Hummel receiving 23.26 percent.