Early life, education, and career Fansler was born in
Logansport,
Indiana to Michael David and Johanna Fansler (née Mulcahy). Michael David Fansler (born 1857 in
Wyandotte County,
Ohio), the son of one of Logansport's early
physicians, was of
Scots-Irish,
German, and
French descent. M.D. Fansler was a prominent local lawyer, serving for most of his career as a
prosecutor. Johanna "Nannie" Fansler was the daughter of an Irish immigrant. Fansler began attending
Notre Dame Law School at the
University of Notre Dame (in
Notre Dame, Indiana) in 1901. He was a member of the
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team. Known to his teammates as "Big Mike" (he was over six feet tall), he played a variety of positions during his time on the team. He graduated and was admitted to the bar in 1905. Fansler returned to
Cass County. From 1906 to 1910, he served as Assistant Prosecuting Attorney of the 29th
Judicial Circuit, working under prosecutor George C. Custer. From 1910 to 1914, he served as the Prosecuting Attorney of the 29th Circuit, succeeding Custer. In 1915, Fansler became a partner at the private firm of Rabb, Mahoney, Fansler & Douglass. He remained at the firm until 1932. Fansler helped to organize a
liberty loan drive in Cass County during the
First World War. Fansler was a
Democrat.
Judicial career and later life Fansler became a justice of the
Indiana Supreme Court in 1933. In 1941, Fansler delivered a speech titled "Some Public Reactions to Procedural Methods" at a meeting of the
Indiana State Bar Association. Fansler left the court in 1945, succeeded by Justice
Oliver Starr. Fansler chaired the Indiana
Judicial Council from 1951 to 1960. In 1909, Fansler married Katherine Hall of
Peru, Indiana. During the First World War, Katherine Fansler was a member of the Women's Section of the Indiana State
Council of Defense, the Indiana branch of the nationwide volunteer organization that helped coordinate Americans resources and industry for the war effort. Fansler died in
Indianapolis in 1963. ==References==