Robert Alfred "Fred" Hedrick (died 2009) was a North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 jurist who served for 24 years on the North Carolina Court of Appeals

North Carolina Court of Appeals

The North Carolina Court of Appeals is the only intermediate appellate court in the state of North Carolina. It is composed of fifteen members who sit in rotating groups of three...

.

Blinded at the age of 13, Hedrick graduated from the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in 1943. He later graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law

University of North Carolina School of Law

The University of North Carolina School of Law is a professional school within the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Established in 1845, Carolina Law is among the oldest law schools in the nation and is the oldest law school in North Carolina. It is consistently ranked in the top-tier...

 and served as a prosecutor and judge in Iredell County

Iredell County, North Carolina

Iredell County, along with Moore County in the eastern Piedmont, are among a very few counties in the United States sharing borders with nine adjacent counties.-Demographics:...

. In 1969, Gov. Bob Scott

Robert W. Scott

Robert Walter "Bob" Scott was the 67th Governor of the state of North Carolina from 1969 to 1973. He was born in Haw River, North Carolina.The son of North Carolina Governor W...

 appointed Hedrick to the state appeals court. He was elected by the voters in 1970 and re-elected several times thereafter. In 1974, he ran for the state supreme court

North Carolina Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of North Carolina is the state's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists of six associate justices and one chief justice, although the number of justices...

 but lost to James G. Exum

James G. Exum

James G. 'Jim' Exum, Jr. is an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice and Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.After earning his law degree at the New York University School of Law, Exum clerked for North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Emery B. Denny...

 in the Democratic primary. Hedrick served as chief judge of the Court of Appeals from 1984 until his retirement in 1993.

Hedrick's first female law clerk was Linda Stephens

Linda Stephens

Linda Stephens is an American judge, currently serving on the North Carolina Court of Appeals. She was first appointed to the Court of Appeals by Gov. Mike Easley in January 2006 and lost her seat in the general election of November 2006. Gov...

, who later became a judge of the Court of Appeals. He also gave her away at her wedding, which was held in Hedrick's chambers.