State judge and alumni leader dies

Former Indiana Supreme Court Justice Paul George Jasper, an IU alumnus from the class of 1932, died Tuesday. He was 92.\nJasper served as IU Alumni Foundation president from 1960-1961, and was to be inducted into the Law School's Academy of Law Alumni Fellows next week, said Lynn Lewis, chairwoman of the IU Alumni Foundation's board of managers.\nHe will now receive the honor posthumously, she said.\nThe IUAA position of president was executive director and the chairman of the board of managers was president when Jasper served as the Foundation's top \nvolunteer leader.\nLewis, who currently fills the same position that Jasper once did, said the primary focus of the position is to chair the board of managers, the legal part of the organization that meets three times a year.\n"The busier part of the job is to spend time with alumni, attend various alumni functions, and meet with alumni at many different venues," Lewis said.\nSince he held a leadership position at the foundation, Jasper had been "very involved" with the organization, said John Hobson, IUAA interim president and CEO. Jasper had also been awarded the Zora G. Clevenger Award and the Distinguished Alumni Service Award for alumni who have made outstanding contributions, Hobson said.\nEugene Fletchall, an alumnus, friend of Jasper and a previous inductee of the Academy of Law Alumni Fellows, said induction into the academy is the law school's highest \nalumni award.\n"The awardees have been selected by an anonymous committee," Fletchall said. "The law school had called me a few days ago asking for information about Mr. Jasper, so I knew that he was going to be inducted."\nJasper was a justice on the Indiana Supreme Court for four years. After retiring, he served as vice president for the Public Service Company of Indiana. More recently, he was active in the Indiana Electric Association.\nIn addition to his public service work, Jasper continued with the state Supreme Court as a special judge and disciplinary hearing officer. Since 1948, every Indiana governor had awarded Jasper with the Sagamore of the Wabash, Indiana's highest honor.\nAt IU, Jasper was captain of the football and basketball teams. He was well-respected as a lawyer and a judge, Fletchall said.\n"He was a humble man, but a big man in stature," Fletchall said. "He was a great friend to everyone who knew him."\nThe Associated Press contributed to this report.