William D. Riter is a member of the law firm of Van Cott, Riter & Farnsworth, occupying a distinguished position at the Salt Lake bar. He is a native son of Utah and a representative of a prominent pioneer family. His father, William W. Riter, is a well known financier and banker who became president of the Deseret Savings Bank and vice president of the Deseret National Bank of Salt Lake City. Arriving in the capital at an early period, he took a prominent part in the upbuilding of the city in many ways and the worth of his work has been widely recognized as the years have passed. He is still active in business circles in the capacities above mentioned and his word has long carried weight in financial circles. The mother of William D. Riter bore the maiden name of Susan Denton. She died in 1881, leaving two children: William D., of this review; and Mrs. Susie Riter Wells, also a resident of Salt Lake City. In early life William D. Riter attended the public schools of Salt Lake City and later the University of Utah, subsequent to which time he went east to enter the law school of Columbia University at New York, where he was graduated in 1897 with the LL. B. degree. In the following year, when trouble arose with Spain, he joined the Utah Light Artillery and was sent to the Philippine Islands, where he remained until the conclusion of hostilities with Spain, serving as a non-commissioned officer. On his return to Salt Lake City, Mr. Riter entered upon the practice of law. During the early period of his connection with the Utah bar he filled the position of assistant county attorney of Salt Lake County, serving in 1901 and 1902. A man of the highest professional standing, Mr. Riter has been called upon to solve many intricate legal problems, and in the numerous cases with which he has been connected his preparation has been most thorough, his presentation clear and cogent, his arguments forcible and convincing. On the 10th of October, 1901, Mr. Riter was married to Miss Lennie Louise Savage, of Salt Lake City, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. R. Savage. They have three children: Virginia, born at Salt Lake City in 1903; Denton S., born in 1906; and Helen Louise, in 1910. During the recent great war Mr. Riter was about to be commissioned major in the judge advocate general's department when the armistice was signed. A short time later he was so commissioned in the Officers Reserve Corps of the United States army. In politics he has always been a republican. Fraternally he is a Mason of high rank, having attained the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite. He belongs to various clubs and social organizations, including the Alta Club, the Bonneville Club and the Columbia Alumni Federation of Utah, of which he was president in 1918. He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. Along professional lines he is connected with the Utah State Bar Association and with the American Bar Association, and his high professional standing is indicated by the fact that in 1917 he was elected to the presidency of the State Bar Association. He is remarkable among lawyers for the wide research and painstaking care bestowed on his cases. In no instance has his reading been confined to the limitations of the question at issue; it has gone beyond and compassed every contingency, providing not alone for the expected but for the unexpected, which happens in the courts quite as frequently as out of them. His logical grasp of the facts and of the principles of the law applicable to them has been another potent element in his success; and a remarkable clearness of expression, coupled with an adequate and precise diction which enables him to make others understand not only the salient points of his argument but every gradation of meaning, may be accounted one of his most conspicuous gifts and accomplishments.

Utah Since Statehood: Historical and Biographical. Volume III.