Randall B. Kester was born in Vale, Oregon, in 1916. He grew up in Bloomington, Wisconsin, and in Ontario, Oregon. He attended Willamette University, graduating in 1937. He then attended the Columbia University Law School in New York, earning his law degree in 1940. He then returned to Oregon and practiced law at the Maguire, Shields & Morrison law firm in Portland. In October 1940, he and Rachael Woodhouse were married. He served on numerous bar committees, and became president of the Multnomah Bar Association. He participated as an amicus curiae in the case of Yasui v. United States during World War II. He served on the Oregon Supreme Court from 1957 to 1958, and became general solicitor for the Union Pacific Railroad in 1958. In 1979, he resumed partnership with Maguire, Shields, Morrison, Bailey & Kester, and became senior counsel for Union Pacific. He was active in numerous civic organizations, including the City Club of Portland, United Good Neighbors, the Oregon Symphony, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the Portland Zoological Society, the World Forestry Center, and the Board of Trustees for Willamette University. He received many awards for service in the legal profession. He died in 2012.