Chief Justice Frank Drowota, III, the longest-serving judge in the 178-member Tennessee Judicial Conference, will be sworn in Friday at 1:30 p.m. for a full four-year term as chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court.
His mother, Mrs. Vivian Drowota, also of Nashville, will attend the ceremony in the Supreme Court Building and celebrate her 98th birthday. His late father, Frank Drowota, Jr., celebrated his 85th birthday on the day Drowota was sworn in for his first term as chief justice in 1989.
This marks the third time he has been elected chief justice during his 22 years on the Supreme Court. He first served as chief justice in 1989-90 and was elected last year to fill the unexpired term of Justice Riley Anderson, who stepped down as chief justice, but remained on the court.
Drowota began his judicial career in 1970 when he was appointed by Gov. Buford Ellington to the Chancery Court of Davidson County. In 1974, Gov. Winfield Dunn appointed him to the state Court of Appeals where he remained until his first election to the Supreme Court in 1980.
Drowota is married to the former Claire Hooper. They have two children, Helen Drowota Close of Nashville and Dr. Frank R. Drowota of Murfreesboro. He is an Elder of Woodmont Christian Church, where his father was the church>s founding minister and served the congregation for 30 years before his retirement.
He also is active in legal and civic organizations, including having served on the boards of directors for the YMCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, Cumberland Museum & Science Center, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, Children's House, Opportunity House, the Bill Wilkerson Speech and Hearing Center and the Disciples Divinity House. He has served as president of the Nashville Rotary Club and the Nashville area chapter of the American Red Cross. He is a trustee of Montgomery Bell Academy, where he attended school, the Dantzler Bond Ansley Fund and The Frist Foundation.
Drowota earned his undergraduate and law degrees at Vanderbilt University. He later served as a Naval officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Shangri-la and was commanding officer for a local reserve unit. He retired after 27 years of active and reserve military service and is a member of the Naval Reserve Association.