Bert T. Combs

Bertram Thomas Combs served as a judge for the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1967 to 1970. Combs was born in Manchester, Kentucky on August 13, 1911 and received his law degree from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1937. Before entering World War II as a US Army captain, Combs practiced law in Prestonsburg from 1937 to 1942. After the War, Combs went back to Prestonsburg and practiced law from 1946 to 1951. He also served as the town's city attorney in 1950 and as the commonwealth attorney for the Thirty First Judicial District in 1950 and 1951. Combs left private practice to serve as a judge on the Kentucky Court of Appeals from 1951 to 1955. Four years later, he was elected as Kentucky's Governor. After his term ended in 1963, Combs moved to Louisville and practiced law until President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated him to serve as a judge on the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Judge, to a seat vacated by Judge Shackelford Miller, Jr. The Senate confirmed his nomination on April 5, 1967. In 1970, Combs resigned from the bench and returned to private practice in Louisville. He remained an active private citizen until his passing on December 3, 1991.