Gloucester Circuit Court Judge R. Bruce Long will retire from the bench effective Jan. 1. Long notified Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Cynthia D. Kinser of his decision in a letter dated Monday.

“It is with mixed emotions that I write to advise you of my decision to retire from the Circuit Court Bench effective January 1, 2014. Serving since 1998, first in General District Court and then in Circuit Court, in the most respected judiciary in the nation, has been the highest honor of my professional life. The years have been filled with memories that I shall always treasure,” Long wrote to Kinser.

Long also requested he be included on the list of retired judges who may be called as needed.

Long was elected to an eight-year term as judge in the ninth judicial circuit by the Virginia General Assembly in March 2009 to replace Judge William H. Shaw III, who retired in May of that year.

A former Gloucester County supervisor, Long and his wife, Joy Smith Long, had a law practice together until his appointment as judge pro tempore of the Ninth General District Court in Gloucester in 1998, when former district court judge Shaw was elevated to the circuit court bench. Long was first elected to a six-year term on the district court bench the following year.

Prior to establishing a law practice with his wife, Long was affiliated with the late John Dusewicz, a Gloucester Point attorney, and prior to that with the late J. Edgar Pointer Jr. in his Gloucester Court House office.

The Newport News native graduated from the University of Richmond before serving in the U.S. Air Force from 1969 to 1972.

Long then earned his law degree from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law of the College of William and Mary and entered practice with Pointer following his graduation.