A Mercer County judge has been selected to replace retiring U.S. Magistrate Judge R. Clarke VanDervort, who announced his retirement earlier this year.
Mercer County Circuit Court Judge Omar J. Aboulhosn has been selected by the Merit Selection Panel to be West Virginia's newest magistrate.
"I'm honestly very honored by the selection," he told the Gazette-Mail on Wednesday.
The order has yet to become official, as Aboulhosn is still going through background checks from the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service.
Born in 1967 to Jim and May Aboulhosn, who emigrated to the United States from Lebanon, he was raised in Princeton and graduated from the West Virginia University College of Law in 1992.
Aboulhosn practiced law in Bluefield beginning in 1992 and began serving as a magistrate in 1996. From 1997 to 1999 he served as Princeton City Court Judge.
In 2008, Aboulhosn was elected judge of the 12th Family Court Circuit but he did not enter the role, as then-Gov. Joe Manchin appointed him to a new circuit judge position in the Ninth Judicial Circuit, the seat he is now exiting.
In addition to his judicial duties in Mercer County, Aboulhosn currently serves as chairman of West Virginia's Supreme Court of Appeals Juvenile Justice Commission.
He has also been appointed on several occasions to sit on the Supreme Court to hear cases in which a justice was recused.
In 2007, Aboulhosn received the Governor's Service Award for volunteer community service.
He is also a current member of the Board of Directors of the Jonathan Powell Hope Foundation, which helps families of children with cancer.
While Aboulhosn's list of accomplishments and community engagements is long, last year he was admonished by the state's Judicial Investigation Commission.
According to the agency's 2014 annual report, Aboulhosn was admonished for "going to the home of a litigant in a divorce case that he was presiding over to direct the seizure of assets following the entry of an Order of Seizure."
Discussing VanDervort, Aboulhosn admitted that he's got some big shoes to fill, adding that his predecessor is a "great jurist" who always had a good demeanor.
Explaining what an honor it is to be named to serve as VanDervort's replacement, Aboulhosn said it was a classic story of the American Dream coming true.
"It's more of a testament to my mom and dad," he said. "If I didn't have good parents, I wouldn't be in this position."
Reach Joel Ebert at 304-348-4843, joel.ebert@dailymailwv.com, or follow @joelebert29 on Twitter.