Los
Angeles County
Biographies
ROBERT ALVA ODELL
A member of a family noted for legal
ability of a high order, Robert Alva Odell is regarded as one of the leading
attorneys of Los Angeles and has also accomplished much as a civic worker,
particularly along educational lines. He
was born in Port Byron, Illinois, August 19, 1882, a son of Robert Neilson and
Sarah Eliza (Ward) Odell, and pursued his education in Rock Island County, that
state, until he had completed the curriculum of the high school. He studied law at the University of Southern
California, from which he received the degree of LL. B. in 1905, but had been
admitted to the California bar in 1903, when twenty-one years of age. His talents, natural and acquired, enabled him
to advance rapidly in a most exacting profession and for a number of years he
has practiced successfully in Los Angeles as a member of the well-known law
firm of Tanner, Odell & Taft, who have handled many of the important cases
tried in the courts of this district.
Outside the path of his profession,
Mr. Odell has also registered important achievement. A member of the Los Angeles Board of
Education from 1921 to 1927, he was its president four years of that period,
from 1923 to 1927, and made an outstanding record. To meet the growth of the city, the schools
were then being rapidly developed and Mr. Odell brought to bear all of his
energies in the accomplishment of this task.
Maintaining a most progressive attitude, he cooperated fully with the
school authorities in the creation of new schools and in securing adequate
facilities for educating the children of Los Angeles and in this connection
made his efforts and foresight of inestimable benefit to the city.
Mr. Odell belongs to Elysian Lodge,
No. 418, F. & A. M., and has attained high standing in Masonry. He is a life member of the Consistory of the
Scottish Rite, a Knight Commander of the Court of Honor, and a past president
of the Masters and Wardens Association, which office he occupied in 1925. His membership in the Order of the Eastern
Star is with Elysian Chapter, of which he is first patron, and his college
fraternity is Sigma Chi. For recreation
he turns to golf and is a familiar figure on the links of the Hollywood Country
Club, in which he has membership.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 543-544, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN
NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES