Robert Clayton Fitzgerald was born the 22^nd of September of 1921. He was a graduate of George Washington High School of Alexandria, Va. He received his B.A. from the University of Virginia in 1941 and his J.D. in 1946. Between 1942 to 1945 he served in the Marine Corps as a 2^nd Lieutenant and fought in the Pacific front.

In 1946 he began practicing law in Falls Church, Virginia. In 1951 he was appointed judge of Trail Justice and Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts in Fairfax, Va. until 1954 when he was appointed Commonwealth’s attorney of Fairfax County, position that he held until 1963 when he was elected to the Virginia Senate representing the counties of Fairfax and Arlington and the cities of Falls Church and Fairfax. He served as Chairman of the Virginia Airports Authority, The Dulles Airport Commission, the Virginia Advisory Legislative Council; he was member of the Senate Ethics Committee and he was president of The George Mason University Foundation.

From 1965 to 1993 he was head of the law firm Fitzgerald and Smith of Fairfax. In 1993 he accepted an appointment as counsel to the law firm of Hazel and Thomas. He retired in 1999.

Mr. Fitzgerald was also president of the Fairfax County Bar and the Commonwealth’s Attorneys Association. He was dean of the Delta Theta Legal Fraternity, he was deacon of the Middleburg Baptist Church and member of the Staunton Baptist Church in Huddleston.

Robert C. Fitzgerald died October 10, 2001 in Huddleston, Virginia.