The Hon. Gary Gavenus is a senior resident judge for the Madison County Superior Court for the 24th Judicial District of the 5th Division in North Carolina. He was elected to the bench in 2010.
The 24th Judicial District includes Avery, Mitchell, Madison, Yancey, and Watauga Counties.
Gavenus initially served as a superior court judge for the 24th Judicial District of the 8th Division of the Superior Court prior to its combining with the 5th Division when the North Carolina General Assembly revised the districts in 2018.
Prior to his election, he was an assistant district attorney for the 24th Judicial District since 2003. During that time, Gavenus was lead prosecutor for all Superior Court Criminal cases for Madison, Mitchell, and Yancey Counties.
Before his tenure as a prosecutor, Gavenus was in private practice for twenty years. During that time, he was a partner at Hemphill & Gavenus (1985 to 2002) and Wright & Gavenus (1982 to 1985) and an associate at Robert M. Brady, Attorney at Law (1982). His areas of practice included civil and criminal litigation, juvenile law, child support law, education law, real estate, construction and contracts, domestic relations, and estates, wills, and trusts. Some of his clients included the Town of Banner Elk; the Avery Health Care System, Inc.; the Avery County Partnership for Children, the Avery County Department of Social Services, and the Maryland Community College.
Early in his legal career, he briefly served as an associate attorney general with the North Carolina Department of Justice (1981).
Gavenus received a B.A. in economics and philosophy from Dickinson College in 1976. He then completed a J.D. at Wake Forest University School of Law in 1979.
He has been involved with Little League, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, the Rotary Club (past president), the Madison County Community Child Protection Team, the Madison County Fatality Prevention Team, the Madison County Criminal Justice Partnership, the Yancey County Child Fatality Prevention Team, and the Yancey County Criminal Justice Partnership.
Gavenus and his wife, Suzanne, a social worker, have three children. The family attends First Presbyterian Church of Burnsville.
He is registered as a Republican.