The Robert A. Shuker Scholarship Fund was established in 1993, to honor the late Judge Robert A. Shuker, Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Its primary purpose is to find and assist young people in obtaining an education that have few financial resources, but a burning desire to learn, achieve, and serve the public. Robert A. Shuker was an extraordinary lawyer, an outstanding judge, and a remarkable person. He was a man with an unmatched combination of courage, intellect, wisdom, and integrity. Although from an impoverished background, Judge Shuker believed in education, and that through education one could achieve any goal. Thus, he worked during his school years at many different jobs, and with scholarship assistance, ultimately achieved his aspirations first by becoming a lawyer and later a judge. Throughout his life, even in the most difficult times, he never lost his compassion for other human beings, his love of life, his distinctive wit, or his special sense of humor.

Judge Robert A. Shuker was born April 28, 1941, in Needham, Massachusetts. He graduated from Brown University with an A.B. degree in June 1963 and the University of Chicago Law School, with a J.D. degree in June 1966. From 1966 to 1968, he worked as a Trial Lawyer for the Chicago Lawyer Project, funded by the Ford Foundation, representing indigent juveniles. In 1968, he joined the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, rising to the position of Chief, Superior Court Division. While with the Office of the United States Attorney, he led the prosecution team in the well-known Hanafi Muslim murder case, one of the most complex and difficult cases ever prosecuted in the United States Attorney�s Office.

Judge Robert A. Shuker was the first recipient of the United States Attorney�s Office�s Harold J. Sullivan Award, presented for his dedication and self-sacrifice, courage and intelligence, personal empathy and professional fairness that best exemplified the career and life of Harold J. Sullivan.

He was sworn in as an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on June 1, 1977, and remained on the bench until his death on June 28, 1993.