Having served the people of his hometown in judicial robes for a quarter-century, George Varoutsos was honored Dec. 17 as that tenure came to an end.
Varoutsos – a judge of the 17th Judicial District Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court (serving Arlington and Falls Church) since 1998 – was lauded by colleagues and civic leaders during a ceremony held at the Arlington County Justice Center.
An attorney in private practice from 1974 to 1998, Judge Varoutsos that latter year was elected by the General Assembly to the bench. For the previous two years, he had served as a substitute judge for the Arlington Circuit Court.
Among those speaking and making presentations at the event were his former colleague, retired Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judge Esther Wiggins; Circuit Court Chief Judge William Newman Jr.; Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington); Arlington County Board Vice Chairman Katie Cristol; Sheriff Beth Arthur; SCAN of Northern Virginia executive director Leah Fraley; Earl Conklin, director of court services for Arlington and Falls Church; and Falls Church Mayor David Tarter. Robin Robb, the presiding judge of the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, led the proceedings.
Among highlights from Judge Varoutsos’s life and career:
• A native Arlingtonian, he graduated from Yorktown High School in 1966 and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2004.
• He earned an undergraduate degree (1970) and law degree (1973) from the University of Richmond.
• After a clerkship with the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, he entered private practice in 1974, serving as president of the Arlington Bar Association 1988-89 and receiving its Distinguished Service Award in 2003.
• He was elected in 1998 to the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court by the General Assembly, and was re-elected by legislators in 2004, 2010 and 2016.
• He was presented with the William T. Newman Jr. Spirit of Community Award by the Arlington Community Foundation in 2010, and in 2019 received the William L. Winston Award from the Arlington Bar Foundation.
• He has been married to Alexandra Varoutsos for 41 years; they have one daughter (Christine), a son-in-law (Ted) and 4-year-old grandson (Georgie).
What does the future hold for the newly retired judge? Varoutsos plans to spend time at the beach in Delaware, as well as in Florida and Greece, and will be traveling to Los Angeles in February to attend his 32nd consecutive Super Bowl. He also plans on taking grandson Georgie to many games of the Washington Nationals, Washington Wizards and University of Richmond Spiders.