Joe Oscar Eaton (1920–2008) was an American lawyer and judge.
Eaton was born in 1920 in Monticello, Florida, the son of Mamie Eaton-Greene, who served on the Florida Railroad Commission from 1927 and 1935 and was the woman elected to a statewide office in Florida. Eaton lived at 816 Cherry Street with his family in the Lafayette Park neighborhood in Tallahassee growing up. [1]
Eaton served as a captain in the United States Army Air Corps from 1941 to 1945. He graduated from Presbyterian College with an Bachelor of Arts degree in 1945 and from the University of Florida College of Law with an LL.B. in 1948.
Eaton served as assistant county solicitor for Dade County from 1949 to 1951. He was a major in the Air Force from 1951 to 1952. Eaton served briefly as assistant state attorney for Dade County in 1953 before being appointed to Circuit Court, serving as a judge from 1953-1954.
Eaton went into private practice in Miami from 1955 to 1959 and was elected a member of the Florida State Senate, serving from 1956 to 1959. Eaton returned to the Circuit Court a second time after leaving the Senate, serving from 1959-1967.
President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Eaton to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida on May 24, 1967, to the seat vacated by David W. Dyer. Confirmed by the Senate on June 12, 1967, he received commission on June 12, 1967. He served as chief judge from 1982 to 1984 and assumed senior status on April 2, 1985.
Judge Eaton died on September 28, 2008.