Monroe W. Spear, 79, a Cleveland attorney for 30 years and a former probate judge in Morrow County, died yesterday at his home, 3075 Meadowbrook Boulevard, Cleveland Heights.
Before his retirement in 1940 Mr. Spear was a partner in the firm of M.W. & J.C. Spear with offices in the Ninth-Chester Building.
He studied law while teaching at Mount Gilead High School. After a period in which he was superintendent of schools for Morrow County, he was elected probate judge and served two terms at Mount Gilead before 1909.
A year later he came to Cleveland and was a member of the law firm Spear, Mills & Godfrey, later Spear, Mills, Knight & Godfrey. In 1919 he and his son, John C. Spear, became partners.
Mr. Spear was a member of the Cleveland Bar Association and for the last 20 years was an elder in Calvary Presbyterian Church.
Surviving him are his wife, Ella; a son. John C. Spear. and a stepson, Paul T. Webster; a daughter, Mrs. Marian H. Stratton; a brother, J. Will Spear of Phoenix, Ariz.. editor of the newspaper Arizona Republic, and four grandchildren.
Services will be held at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Young-Baker fu neral home, 8806 Euclid Avenue.
Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer, January 26, 1943.