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Public: Recent News

J. Robert "Bob" Elster

J. Robert “Bob” Elster of Winston-Salem, a former member of the North Carolina Bar Association Board of Governors and NCBA vice president who co-founded the N.C. Association of Defense Attorneys in 1977, has died unexpectedly.

He was 69 years of age.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, May 17, at Centenary United Methodist Church. His family will receive friends at their home, 2570 Club Park Road, both this evening, May 16, from 6 to 8, and after the service on Thursday, May 17.

“Bob Elster was a model citizen lawyer,” said NCBA President Clark Smith. “He was extremely effective, skilled and competent as a litigator. He was always civil and highly ethical in his dealings with fellow attorneys and the court. He was courteous and personable to young and old alike.

“He epitomized the mission of the NCBA in that he promoted the administration of justice and practiced and encouraged the highest standards of integrity, competence, and civility. He will be missed by all who were fortunate enough to know him.”

Smith served with Elster on the NCBA’s Tort Reform Task Force and both gentlemen also served as presidents NCADA.

In fact, it was Elster and fellow Winston-Salem attorney William K. “Bill” Davis who spearheaded the effort to formally organize the state’s civil trial attorneys. They achieved their goal on June 4, 1977. Davis, with the firm of Bell Davis & Pitt, and Elster, with what later became Kilpatrick Stockton, served as NCADA’s first two presidents, respectively.

“At the time the NCADA was founded, I was state chairman for the Defense Research Institute,” Elster noted in a 2003 interview. “DRI had been pushing for some time for North Carolina to start a defense organization. I enlisted the help of Bill Davis and we called an ad hoc meeting on a Saturday morning at the Albert Pick Motel in Greensboro to discuss.

“About 20 defense attorneys came. We took up a collection for coffee and sweet rolls. The NCADA was born.”

Davis remembered his colleague fondly in an e-mail message Monday morning conveying the news of Elster’s death as a “great and sad loss.”

“Bob has been a wonderful friend and colleague for 40 years,” Davis stated, “and he represented and conducted himself as every lawyer should, with courtesy and civility, while never compromising the rights of his clients.”

Elster received his bachelor’s degree from Rice University in 1959, then attended the Duke University School of Law, from which he graduated in 1964. He was also an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps and served as an adjunct professor at the Wake Forest University School of Law.

Elster was licensed to practice law in 1959, the same year in which he joined the NCBA. He was licensed to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973.