Class of 1954
(Notes posted in the order they were received, with the newest posts on top.)
James F. Durham, II, 77, passed away in Melbourne Beach, Florida, on September 25, 2008, after a brief illness of melanoma cancer. Jim was born on June 14, 1931, in Madisonville, Kentucky, to a family which had roots in Kentucky for many generations. He also earned his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University. Following his graduation, he served as a legal officer in the U.S. Army in New York City, where he also attended graduate school at New York University School of Law. He moved to Miami in 1956 and joined Miami's oldest law firm, Shutts & Bowen, where he had a distinguished career as a real estate lawyer for 45 years. Jim served his profession as an author for The Florida Bar on mortgage foreclosure law, and he served his community as an officer of the Junior Chamber of Commerce and as a member of various boards of the City of Coral Gables, where he resided until moving to Melbourne Beach after his retirement in 2001. Jim enjoyed playing tennis at the Country Club of Coral Gables and sailing and fishing activities while a member of the Coral Reef Yacht Club. Jim was a kind, gentle, friendly and caring man who appreciated and enjoyed life. Jim is survived by his wife Kathy, four children and 13 grandchildren. Posted 11-3-08
Ernest Bland Williams III died April 20, 2008 of complications from a bicycle accident in October 2007. Born in Memphis on August 9,1928, he graduated from Sewanee Military Academy in 1946, earned his B.A. at Vanderbilt University in 1949, and graduated from Vanderbilt Law School in 1954. He spent two years in the Air Force during the Korean War as an instructor in Atomic, Bacteriological and Chemical defense. He began his law practice in Memphis at Chandler Sheperd Heiskell & Williams, a law firm founded by his father and later served as a managing partner in the firm, which is now Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz. He founded the firm's first Commercial Law Group and chaired the Interest and Usury Subcommittee of the Commercial Financial Services Committee of the American Bar Association. He was a past president of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers and taught commercial law at the University of Memphis School of Law, where he was one of the original instructors. A life-long pilot, he was a past president of the Memphis Soaring Society, the oldest continuously operating soaring club in the United States. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Jane W. Williams.
Steve Potts, former Ethics Resource Center Chair - who last year re-entered public service as White House Associate Counsel long after completing a stint as Director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics - has been awarded the 2007 Stanley C. Pace Ethics in Leadership Award by the ERC Fellows Program for his years of work to promote ethical conduct in the public and private sectors. Potts' public service record began with service in the Army's Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1954 to 1957, when Dwight Eisenhower was president. He served as Director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, an independent office reporting directly to the President, under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton between 1990 and 2000. "My experiences with OGE and ERC have given me great appreciation for the need to build ethical considerations into every decision that an organization makes," Potts said. He also noted that, "Durable success is fostered by ethical leadership." A former partner with the law firm of Shaw Pittman Potts & Trowbridge in Washington, Potts served on a special panel appointed by the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents in 2007 to examine the activities of former Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence Small and recommend appropriate changes in Smithsonian policies and procedures.
William Little Frierson II passed away Monday, Sept. 11, 2006, in a local hospital. He was 76. Born July 11, 1930, to Susan Lodor and Robert Payne Frierson, Mr. Frierson was named for his grandfather, a former Chattanooga mayor who served as a solicitor general of the United States in the administration of President Woodrow Wilson. At Vanderbilt, where he earned both his bachelor's and law degrees, he was president of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity and captain of the wrestling team. He attended Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, R.I., and was commissioned an ensign upon graduation. During his three-year tour of Navy duty, first in Chicago and later in San Francisco, he served on the Judge Advocate General's staff. Following his naval discharge, he returned to Chattanooga and joined his close friend, H.M. Poss, in business at Tennessee Hotel Supply Co. He went to work for First Federal Savings and Loan Association in 1962, where he served as senior vice president and counsel and head of the mortgage loan department. He retired in 1994 after more than 30 years of employment. He is survived by his wife, Amy Louise.
John H. Wilbur, Sr. of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, passed away peacefully April 12, 2006. He was born February 25, 1929. He earned his undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt, where he was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity, in 1951. At Vanderbilt law school, he was a member of Order of the Coif, President of Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity, editor of the Law Review and a Fullbright Scholar to England.He served in the U.S. Army JAG Corps and retired as a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves. During his military career, John worked in Maryland at Ft. Holabird in the Intelligence Department, where he was in charge of settling claims for the Texas city disasters. He was then transferred to the Pentagon, where prior to his retirement, he was awarded a distinguished service metal. John practiced law at the firm of Walter Armstrong in Tennessee until he moved to Jacksonville in 1963, where he worked at the law firm of Mahoney Hadlow Chambers & Adams until he founded the law firm of Wilbur & Milam in 1974. In 1984 he founded the law firm of Wilbur & Allen where he practiced until his death. John practiced before the U. S. Supreme Court and was one of 50 attorneys to participate in the Cultural Exchange in China.
Howell C. ("Red") Smith, Jr. - Vanderbilt University Law School was one of 10 academic institutions and charities to receive major gifts from the estate of Red Smith. Through his estate, Mr. Smith gave over $400,000 to the law school, along with gifts of more than $8 million to nine other institutions and charities.
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