Picture courtesy of the 15th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A law library in Palm Beach County will be renamed after the late Judge Edward Rogers, the first Black judge to serve in the 15th Judicial Circuit Court.

The law library which is housed inside the Daniel T. Hurley Courthouse will be renamed the Judge Edward Rodgers Law Library.

According to the 15th Judicial Circuit Court, Rogers served 22 years as a county and circuit court judge.

In 1973, Rogers became the first Black judge in Palm Beach County when he was appointed by then-Florida Governor Reubin Askew.

Rodgers was also the first Black chief justice judge in Palm Beach County, where he served from 1983 to 1985.

In 1977, he was elevated to the circuit court bench.

After Rodgers retired in 1995, he became a councilman and the mayor of the city of Riviera Beach.

Rodgers graduated from Howard University and earned his law degree from the Florida A&M University College of Law.

Rodgers died in 2018.