Robert Gerard McCoid

Robert Gerard McCoid, 59, of Wheeling died in Wheeling Hospital on April 15, 2025, surrounded by family after a very tough fight with a stubborn cancer. He was born on April 4, 1966, in Huntington, West Virginia, to Robert Roy and Marlene Marie (McDermott) McCoid, both of Wheeling.
Robert graduated from Linsly School in 1984, was awarded a bachelor's degree in political science from The American University in Washington, D.C., in 1989, and earned his juris doctorate from West Virginia University's College of Law in 1994, where he was inducted into the Order of Barristers and Mountain Honorary.
As an undergraduate student and afterwards, he counted among his diverse experiences two years as a legislative intern on Capitol Hill, program director at a defense-based think tank, legislative representative for a manufacturers trade association, bouncer, bartender, waiter, and maître d' at a high-end Italian restaurant. He was a Lutheran by faith.
A zealous advocate for constitutional due process and a champion for the underdog, Robert represented thousands of clients in his more than thirty years practicing law, primarily as a criminal defense and civil rights litigator, trying numerous high profile cases in the Ohio Valley to jury acquittals over the course of his career and winning substantial civil settlements for his clients in false arrest and excessive force cases. He was fiercely committed to the right to a trial by jury in criminal cases and believed deeply in the rule of law. Shortly after graduating law school, he served as an assistant Ohio County prosecuting attorney for nearly two years and taught criminal law and procedure as an adjunct professor for over twenty-five years at West Virginia Northern Community College and the former Wheeling Jesuit University, sharing his experiences and passion for intellectual honesty and social justice with inquisitive young minds. At the time of his death, Robert was privileged by his peers to be serving as president of the Ohio County Bar Association. He received numerous professional accolades over his career, but the one of which he was proudest was a Legal Redress Award from the local NAACP in 1997.
Robert enjoyed reading, fishing, working out, cinema, and travel, counting Las Vegas, New Orleans, and the British Isles among his favorite go-to destinations. He always enjoyed finding the next excellent restaurant. What he enjoyed most of all, outside of spending time with his family, however, was hiking and wood-cutting at the family farm in Pennsylvania. Nearby Dutch Fork Lake was his favorite fishing hole. He also enjoyed dabbling in politics as an avocation and successfully quarterbacked a number of local races for friends seeking judicial and other offices.
Robert enjoyed the company of his many close friends and delighted in exchanging insults with them, particularly when he was the subject of the joke. He was a faithful member of Alcoholics Anonymous, working as a bridge in his law practice to those struggling to get into recovery, and, at the time of his death, was graced with over twenty-four years of continuous sobriety. He touched many lives favorably both as a lawyer and a friend, noting from time to time that he didn't get the life he had planned, but he enjoyed a much better one than he ever deserved. For all of his diverse experiences in life, he often remarked that the greatest, bar none, was getting to be a father.
In addition to his cherished, beloved mother, Robert was predeceased by his brother and childhood best friend, Roy, in 2002, his sweet, wonderful former wife and mother of his daughter, Sarah Ostovic in 2011, and his friend and stepson, Daniel Baker, in 2022. He is survived by his one-in-a-million father, his devoted, loving wife, best friend, rock, and life partner of twenty-five years, Kelly (Ruckh), daughter and light of his life, Molly (Hunter) McCoid, magical sons, Robert Roy McCoid II and Kristian Conard McCoid, special stepdaughter Amy (Josh) Yost, grandsons Kyan and Lucas Burke and Oliver and Beckett Yost, in-laws, Nancy and Donald Ruckh, special friend and sons' mother, Kristina Owens, aunts and uncles, and dozens of wonderful cousins. Robert's dying wish was that his family and friends remember him often and fondly to his very young sons and look out for their well-being as occasion presents.
The family wishes to extend special thanks to Robert's dear friends, Drs. Nasir and Shaista Khan, who made his final, most difficult journey in life infinitely easier, as well as Drs. Robert Herron, Nabile Al-Khouri, Johndavid Pollack, and the physicians and nurses at WVU-Reynolds Cancer Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York, all of whom worked hard to save and extend his life. Memorial contributions are invited to be made to Linsly School, Healthways, Inc.'s E. Lee Jones Miracles Happen recovery house, or the American Cancer.
Services and interment were held at the convenience of the family with arrangements made by Kepner Funeral Homes, 166 Kruger Street, Wheeling, WV (304-242-2311).