The VLW Blog

Retired Richmond civil rights lawyer Oliver W. Hill Sr. died this morning at the age of 100, reports The Associated Press.
Mr. Hill was one of the lawyers in the 1954 landmark decision, Brown v. Board of Education. He and his colleague Spotswood W. Robinson represented black students from Prince Edward County. Mr. Hill’s law […]

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Retired Louisa County Circuit Judge Harold H. Purcell died July 14 at the age of 87.
Judge Purcell served in both the House of Delegates and the Senate before he went on the bench in 1966. In 1958, he patroned the bill that established Virginia’s uninsured motorist laws. When he retired from the bench in 1979, […]

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Warsaw lawyer Thomas D. Taylor died of cancer July 6. He was 72.
Mr. Taylor was the first black lawyer in the town, according to his family, and he served Warsaw and Richmond County for more than 30 years, they said.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch has the story.

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Retired Suffolk lawyer Herman T. Benn passed away on June 29 at the age of 95. in 1962 Mr. Benn won a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregation of courtrooms to be unconstitutional.
The Suffolk News-Herald has the story.

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Roanoke business lawyer Eugene E. Derryberry died on July 5 after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 64. Colleagues remembered him as a mentor who loved teaching the younger lawyers at his firm, Gentry Locke Rakes and Moore.
The Roanoke Times has the story.

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Richard A. “Dick” Williamson, a longtime law professor at the College of William and Mary, died last Friday, June 15. He was 63.
Prof. Williamson taught law at the school from 1970 until his retirement three months ago. He also served for a number of years at the college’s coordinator of legal affairs. In that […]

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Retired General District Judge David D. Brown died last week at his home in Abingdon. He was 77.
Judge Brown was the longtime commonwealth’s attorney in Washington County, serving from 1964 to 1978. He was named to the general district bench in 1982, where he served until his retirement.
The Bristol Herald Courier has an obituary.

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James W. Renney Sr. will be remembered by many people as the longtime master of ceremonies at the annual shad planking in Wakefield. That time-honored Virginia political event has attracted politicians and candidates from both parties for years.
Mr. Renney, a former mayor of Wakefield, died April 26 at the age of 80. A graduate […]

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Retired Fairfax lawyer Jay Corson served as president of both the Virginia State Bar and of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys. He spent 37 years practicing with McGuireWoods LLP and its predecessor firms, defending products liability and personal injury cases, until his retirement in 2000. He died last week at the age of […]

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Judge Robert K. Woltz served on the circuit bench in Winchester for 21 years until his retirement in 1989. He died March 22 at the age of 88. Colleagues and friends told the Winchester Star (registration required) that the judge was a man who was fair and courteous and a man who loved the celebrate […]

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