WHEELING — The federal courthouse in Wheeling soon will bear the name of one of its former chief judges.
President Joe Biden this week signed into law a resolution renaming the courthouse the “Frederick P. Stamp, Jr. Federal Building and United States Courthouse.”
Stamp presided in that courthouse starting in 1990, achieved senior status in 2006 and spent 1994-2001 as its chief judge.The resolution was sponsored in the United States House of Representatives by Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., and supported in the Senate by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R.-W.Va.
“Judge Stamp is renowned for his humility, commitment to service above self and is a respected jurist who represents the very best of West Virginia,” McKinley said in a news release. “It is an exceptionally proud day for the Wheeling community and our state to see the Federal Courthouse where he has served for many years, named in his honor as the Frederick P. Stamp, Jr. Federal Building and United States Courthouse.”
Stamp said he was extremely honored by the gesture.
“It’s a wonderful honor for me and my family,” he said. “I want to express my appreciation to Congressman McKinley and Sen. Capito for their efforts seeing to the adoption of the resolution and the ultimate passage of it. I’m grateful for Judge (John P.) Bailey and others in my court who supported the effort.”
Stamp, a lifelong Wheeling resident, was inducted into the 2017 Class of the Wheeling Hall of Fame. After active military service in the United States Army, Stamp spent 30 years practicing as an attorney in the city.
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush appointed him to the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of West Virginia.
He has been President of the West Virginia Bar Association, a Fellow of the American Bar Association, Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and member and president of the Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia.
Stamp also has been a member of the West Virginia Board of Regents from 1970-77 and served as chair in 1973-74. He also sat on and chaired the West Virginia Commission on Higher Education and was on the boards of trustees at Wheeling Jesuit University, Davis & Elkins College and The Linsly School.
The date of the ceremony has not yet been announced, but sometime soon, Stamp will drive past the courthouse that was so integral in his life for so long and see his name on it. That, he said, will give him a chance to reflect on how important the law and the legal community has been in his life.
“It makes me appreciate the opportunity in this country to work as lawyers and as judges and affecting the rule of law in what is still a great nation,” Stamp said.