Frankfort, KY: The portrait of Honorable Bill Cunningham will be presented to the Supreme Court of Kentucky at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, September 27, 2019. The portrait will hang in the corridors of the second floor of the Capitol Building.
Justice Cunningham served 12 years as a Justice on the Supreme Court of Kentucky before retiring February 1, 2019. He was born in Eddyville, Kentucky in 1944 and raised in Lyon and Marshall counties. He received his B.S. degree from Murray State University in 1966 and his J.D. from the University of Kentucky Law School in 1969. He is an author of numerous publications in national, state and local periodicals as well as a veteran of the United States Army (Germany, Korea and Vietnam). He was City Attorney for Eddyville, Kentucky, 1974-1991; Public Defender for Kentucky State Penitentiary, 1974-1976; Commonwealth Attorney for the 56th Judicial District, 1976-1988; Hearing Officer for the Kentucky Board of Claims, 1981-1985; Trial Commissioner for Lyon District Court, 1988-1992; Circuit Judge, 1992-2006, elected to the Supreme Court of Kentucky November 7th, 2006 and re-elected in 2014. Justice Cunningham is married to Paula Trull, has five sons, fifteen grandchildren and resides in Kuttawa, Kentucky.