Robert E. Colville


Robert E. Colville was an American police officer, attorney, and judge from Pittsburgh. Over the course of his career, he served as Pittsburgh Police Chief, as the district attorney of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and finally, as a judge on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas and the Pennsylvania Superior Court.

Background

Colville was born on May 23, 1935, and grew up in the Manchester section of Pittsburgh. After graduating from North Catholic High School in 1953, Colville joined the United States Marine Corps. He later attended Duquesne University, where he obtained his BA in 1963. Colville then returned to North Catholic, where he was a teacher, and the school's head football coach. He earned a law degree from Duquesne in 1969.
Colville lived on Pittsburgh's North Side. He had six children: three his first marriage to Judy Joyce, including federal judge Robert J. Colville, and three from his second marriage, to Janet Graham, which lasted until his death.
Colville died from lung cancer at Allegheny General Hospital on September 11, 2018, at the age of 83.

Police career

Colville joined the Pittsburgh Police Department in 1961, and became a homicide detective in 1969. From 1971 through 1975, Colville served as Pittsburgh Chief of Police under Mayor Pete Flaherty. While Chief in 1974 he started the department on testing for promotions.

Political and legal career

He was the Allegheny County District Attorney from 1976, when he defeated incumbent John Hickton, until 1998. Colville contemplated a run for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1981. In 1997, he was elected to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, and in 2006, he was appointed to the Pennsylvania Superior Court.