Background
Tjoflat, Gerald Bard was born on December 6, 1929 in Pittsburgh. Son of Gerald Benjamin and Sarita (Romero-Hermoso) Tjoflat.
Tjoflat, Gerald Bard was born on December 6, 1929 in Pittsburgh. Son of Gerald Benjamin and Sarita (Romero-Hermoso) Tjoflat.
Student, University Virginia, 1947—1950. Student, University Cincinnati, 1950—1952. Bachelor of Laws, Duke University, 1957.
Data Control Language (honorary), Jacksonville University, 1978. Doctor of Laws (honorary), William Mitchell College, 1993.
He is currently the longest serving federal appeals court judge still in active service, having chosen not to assume senior status despite eligibility. Tjoflat earned his Bachelor of Laws from Duke University School of Law in 1957. He was in private practice in Jacksonville, Florida from 1957 to 1968 and served as a judge of the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida in Jacksonville from 1968 to 1970.
President Richard M. Nixon nominated Tjoflat to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida on October 7, 1970, to a new seat created by 84 Statistics
294. Confirmed by the Senate on October 13, 1970, he received commission three days later. President Gerald Ford nominated Tjoflat to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on November 3, 1975, to a seat vacated by John Milton Bryan Simpson.
Confirmed by the Senate on November 20, 1975, he received his commission the next day and began serving on the court on December 12, 1975. Tjoflat was reassigned to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on October 1, 1981, when that court was established.
He served as chief judge from 1989 to 1996.
Tjoflat was elected to the American Law Institute in 1972 and became a life member in 1997. In 1995, the Duke Law Journal at the Duke University School of Law published a tribute to Tjoflat that included articles by then-Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, retired Justices Lewis F. Powell, Junior. and Byron R. White, and Judge Edward R. Becker of the United States. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, among others
Honorary life member, board visitors Duke University Law School, 2000. President North Florida council Boy Scouts American, 1976—1985, 2000—2001, chairman, 1985—1990. Trustee Jacksonville Marine Institute, 1976—1990, Episcopalian High School, Jacksonville, 1975—1990.
Member vestry St. Johns Cathedral, 1969—1971, 1973—1975, 1977—1979, 1981—1983, 1985—1987, 1993, 1995—1996, senior warden, 1975, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1992. Member of American Bar Association, American Judicature Society, American Law Institute, Florida Bar Association.
Married Sarah Marie Pfohl, July 27, 1957 (deceased). Children: Gerald Bard, Marie Elizabeth. Married Marcia Penman Parker, February 21, 1998.
