Robert Traver
Robert Traver, born John Donaldson Voelker on June 29, 1903, in Ishpeming, Michigan, was a notable American author and lawyer. He received his law degree from the University of Michigan and practiced law in Michigan, serving as the Marquette County prosecutor and later as a member of the Michigan Supreme Court. Traver was married to Grace Taylor and had three daughters. Under his pseudonym, he authored nearly a dozen books, blending his legal expertise with his passion for trout fishing. His most famous work, "Anatomy of a Murder," published in 1958, was inspired by a real murder case in which he defended a client, and it was subsequently adapted into a successful film directed by Otto Preminger. Traver's writings often reflect the small-town life of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and he contributed to various publications, including a weekly column for the Detroit News. He continued to write until his retirement, producing works that explored both legal themes and the joys of fishing. Robert Traver passed away on March 19, 1991, in Marquette, Michigan.
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Robert Traver
Writer
- Born: June 29, 1903
- Birthplace: Ishpeming, Michigan
- Died: March 19, 1991
- Place of death: Marquette, Michigan
Biography
Robert Traver was the pseudonym of John Donaldson Voelker, who was born in Ishpeming, Michigan, on June 29, 1903. He attended Northern Michigan Normal School (now Northern Michigan University), and he received his law degree from the University of Michigan in 1928. He married Grace Taylor in 1930, and he and his wife had three daughters. Traver practiced law briefly in Chicago after finishing law school, but he returned to Ishpeming to enter private law practice. He was the prosecutor for Marquette County, Michigan, from 1935 to 1950 and was a member of the Michigan Supreme Court from 1957 to 1959.
Under the Traver pen name, he wrote almost a dozen books, both fiction and nonfiction, including many based on his legal experiences and several centering on his other great passion, trout fishing. His first book was Troubleshooter: The Story of a Northwoods Prosecutor, published in 1943, and his first novel was Danny and the Boys; Being Some Legends of Hungry Hollow, published in 1951. His best-known work was Anatomy of a Murder, a novel modeled closely on a 1952 murder case in Big Bay, Michigan, where Traver had been the defense attorney. The book was made into a Hollywood film, released in 1959, directed by Otto Preminger and starring Jimmy Stewart as the attorney that Traver had based on himself.
Traver retired from the bench after the film’s success and devoted himself to writing, producing additional books about trout fishing, novels, and collections of short stories. His stories and essays about trout fishing were published in a posthumous collection, Traver on Fishing: A Treasury of Robert Traver’s Finest Stories and Essays About Fishing for Trout.
Traver also wrote a weekly column for the Detroit News from 1967 to 1969. Most of his work was set in the small-town Upper Peninsula, Michigan, locales where he had grown up and spent most of his life, and his legal fiction reflected his vast experience with the workings of the law. Few writers have brought such a rich legal background to their fiction, and both the novel and film versions of Anatomy of a Murder, in particular, revealed Traver’s deep personal knowledge of courtroom practice and drama. He died on March 19, 1991, in Marquette, Michigan.