Nashville lawyer, chancellor and TBA senior counselor Ed Reynolds Davies died Nov. 22, 2021, at the age of 90. A third-generation lawyer, Davies served in Korea with the U.S. Marines before earning his law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1958. His legal career was spent as a trial lawyer, first at Waller, Lansden, Dortch & Davis, and later at Boult, Cummings, Conners & Berry. He opened his own firm in 1973 — which would later be known as Davies, Humphreys & Reese — where he practiced with two of his sons until his retirement in 2019. In 1974, Davies was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Chancellor Frank F. Drowota in Part II of the Davidson County Chancery Court.

Davies’ sons are lawyers Ed R. Davies Jr. and Robert R. Davies of Nashville, and Wade V. Davies of Knoxville. His nephew, R. E. Lee Davies, is a senior judge; his great nephew Lee Davies Jr. practices in Franklin, and his grandson, Harrison Davies, is a first-year law student at UT. Davies’ father was U.S. District Judge Elmer Davies, and his brother Elmer Jr. was a circuit judge in Williamson County. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Webb School, 319 Webb Rd., East, Bell Buckle, TN 37020 or to the West End United Methodist Church, 2200 West End Ave., Nashville, TN 37203.

Myron C. Ely, 81 and a lifetime resident of Knoxville, died peacefully at home on Jan. 3. A 1966 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, Ely went on to serve in the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard. He later served for many years as president of East Tennessee Title, the oldest title company in the area. He was a two-time president of the Tennessee Land Title Association and a member of the association’s Education Committee. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 Worlds Fair Park Dr., Knoxville, TN 37916 or Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church, 3700 Keowee Ave., Knoxville, TN 37919.

Former Davidson County General Sessions and Circuit Judge Barbara Haynes died Jan. 13 after a long illness. She was 84. Haynes was the first woman elected general sessions judge in the county and was later elected to the circuit court. She was the first person in her family to attend college. It was there she met her husband Joe Haynes, who went on to serve as a state senator and her law partner. He died in 2018. A 1976 graduate of the Nashville School of Law, Haynes was just five years into her career when she ran and won a seat on the bench. She served as a judge until her retirement in 2011. In 1986, she was appointed to lead the Tennessee Sentencing Commission, overseeing an overhaul of the state’s sentencing guidelines and criminal code. She also helped found the Lawyers’ Association for Women. Memorial donations may be made to the Barbara Haynes Scholarship, Harpeth Hall School, 3801 Hobbs Rd., Nashville, TN 37215; Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, 2200 Children’s Way, Nashville, TN 37232; Pencil for Schools, 7199 Cockrill Bend Blvd., Nashville, TN 37209; or a charity of the donor’s choice.

Gilbert Stroud Merritt Jr., the longest-serving member of the current 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, died Jan. 17 after a battle with metastatic prostate cancer. He was 86. A fixture in the judiciary and state politics, Merritt sat on the bench for 44 years. He attended law school at Vanderbilt University and earned a master of law from Harvard Law School in 1962. His career included a stint as the U.S. attorney for Middle Tennessee from 1966 to 1969 under President Lyndon B. Johnson, before he was appointed to the appellate court in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter. Merritt was considered for a nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton, who ultimately selected Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Merritt was one of several American jurists to travel to Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein to help rebuild the country’s shattered judicial system. The Tennessee Bar Journal covered his trip in an October 2003 article.

Knoxville lawyer Robert Phillip Murrian died Jan. 24 at the age of 76. Murrian earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1974 and later joined the school as an adjunct professor. Following graduation he served as law clerk for Judge Robert L. Taylor, worked at the firm of Butler, Vines & Babb, and served as U.S. magistrate judge from 1978 to 2002. After retiring from the bench, Murrian practiced with Kramer Rayson, focusing on federal matters. In his last position, Murrian joined Pam Reeves and Celeste Herbert to establish the mediation firm Reeves, Herbert & Murrian. Among his many accomplishments, Murrian served as president of the Hamilton Burnett American Inns of Court, was a member of the Knoxville Bar Association Board of Governors, and received the association’s Law and Liberty Award and Governors’ Award. Friends of the family are invited to send sympathy cards to Sue Murrian at 531 South Gay #403, Knoxville, TN 37902.

Longtime Newport attorney Fred L.  “Freddie” Myers Jr. died suddenly on Jan. 19 at the UT Medical Center in Knoxville. He was 85. Myers earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law and practiced law in Newport for 60 years. He also was the first municipal judge for the town of Parrottsville. In later years, he was co-founder of and partner with Myers & Ball LLP. Myers served as a senator in the Tennessee General Assembly and held various positions with the Newport/Cocke County Bar Association, including president, vice president and treasurer. Memorial donations may be made to the Newport Animal Shelter, P.O. Box 370, Newport, TN 37821; St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105; or a charity of the donor’s choice.

Shelby County attorney and TBA senior counselor Charles Robert Perkins died in Nashville on Dec. 4, 2021. He was 85. Perkins worked as an attorney and government official for more than 60 years in Memphis and Shelby County. Graduating in 1967, he was a member of the first law school class at Memphis State University. He was admitted to practice before the Tennessee Supreme Court, U.S. District Court and U.S. Supreme Court. His clients included major corporate businesses, a major bank, the city of Memphis, town of Arlington and Memphis Light, Gas and Water. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Union University, Attn: Advancement Office, 1050 Union University Dr., Jackson, TN 38305.

Norm Sabin of Chattanooga and Crossville died Jan. 16. He was 71. Sabin served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and Desert Storm. Among his many life experiences, he played minor league baseball for the Dodgers, raised Quarter Horses and was a military and commercial flight engineer. In 1994, he earned a law degree from Regent University and began practicing law. In 2008, he formed his own firm specializing in of estate planning. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Choices Chattanooga, 951 Eastgate Loop, Ste. 1000, Chattanooga, TN 37411; Compassion International, Colorado Springs, CO 80997; or World News Group, 12 All Souls Crescent, Asheville, NC 28803. |||