American law professor (1879?1954)
J. Randolph Tucker
|
---|
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/John_Randolph_Tucker_%281879%E2%80%931954%29_portrait_photograph.jpg/220px-John_Randolph_Tucker_%281879%E2%80%931954%29_portrait_photograph.jpg) Portrait of Tucker,
c.
1923
|
Born
| John Randolph Tucker
(
1879-10-29
)
October 29, 1879
|
---|
Died
| June 12, 1954
(1954-06-12)
(aged 74)
|
---|
Burial place
| Hollywood Cemetery
|
---|
Education
| |
---|
Occupations
| |
---|
Spouse
|
Mary Byrd Harrison
(
m.
1911)
|
---|
Children
| 2, including
J. Randolph Jr.
|
---|
Parent
| |
---|
John Randolph Tucker
(October 29, 1879 ? June 12, 1954) was an American lawyer and law professor who established the county manager form of government in
Henrico County, Virginia
.
[1]
Early and family life
[
edit
]
Tucker was born in
Staunton, Virginia
on October 29, 1879, to
Henry St. George Tucker III
and his wife, Henrietta Preston Johnston. His father Henry St. George Tucker was the fourth generation of distinguished lawyers and judges in the family, and this John Tucker (named after his lawyer/politician grandfather
John Randolph Tucker (1823?1897)
would become the fifth generation of lawyers in the family. Henry Tucker moved his family to
Lexington, Virginia
when John was young. The father practiced as well as taught law at
Washington and Lee University
, and also served as U.S. Representative from 1889 to 1897 and from 1922 to 1932. Young John Tucker attended
Tulane University
(where his maternal grandfather had served as its first president) as well as Washington and Lee University. He graduated from the Washington and Lee law school in 1902 and spent a year doing postgraduate work at the
Harvard Law School
.
[1]
John Tucker married Mary Byrd Harrison, a daughter of former state delegate
Carter H. Harrison
, in 1911. Their daughter married Francis Thornton Greene and lived in
Warrenton, Virginia
and their son
J. Randolph Tucker Jr.
(nicknamed "Bunny"; 1914?2015) would become a lawyer and member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1950 to 1958 state senator and later a judge of the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond. The senior John Tucker was also an active member of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, serving both on the vestry and as junior and senior warden.
Legal career
[
edit
]
Upon being admitted to the Virginia bar in 1903, John Randolph Tucker began private practice in Staunton, but soon moved to Richmond to become an associate at Munford, Hunton, Williams and Anderson (which much later became
Hunton Andrews Kurth
). There he worked under the firm's founding partners,
Beverley B. Munford
,
Eppa Hunton Jr.
,
E. Randolph Williams
, and
Henry W. Anderson
, and alongside fellow-associate
Thomas B. Gay
.
[2]
Tucker left in 1909 and established a partnership with John B. Lightfoot Jr., which he left to become counsel for the
Virginia State Corporation Commission
from 1919 until 1923. He then formed a partnership, Tucker and Bronson, which later evolved into Tucker,
Mays
, Cabell and Moore (and even later, Mays, Valentine, Davenport and Moore, which in 2001 merged into
Troutman Sanders
). This law firm became one of Richmond's leading law and lobbying firms. Tucker served as general counsel and a member of the board of directors of the Virginia Trust Company, and counsel for the Virginia Bankers Association from 1933 until his death.
For fifteen years (1909-1925), Tucker taught as an adjunct professor of law at the
University of Richmond School of Law
, with a brief absence during World War I. He published "Personal Liability of One Assuming Payment of a Deed of Trust", 4
Va.L.Rev.
464-85 (1917), and taught various courses relating to business and constitutional law, as well as insurance, bailment, wills and administration, and equity procedures.
[3]
Death and legacy
[
edit
]
As President of the Henrico Citizens League, Tucker led efforts to adopt a county manager form of government in Henrico County, which caused the Board of Supervisors to name
John Randolph Tucker High School
in his honor after his death, which occurred in
Richmond, Virginia
on June 12, 1954. Tucker is buried at
Hollywood Cemetery
in Richmond.
[4]
References
[
edit
]