Lifetime NAFUSA member and former president Hal Hardin presented a flag flown over the Department of Justice to Judge Gilbert Merritt’s family at the Nashville Bar Memorial Service held on May 31, 2022.

Gilbert Stroud Merritt, Jr., the longest-serving member of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals died on Monday, January 17. He was 86. He sat of the bench for 44 years. He earlier served as the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee from 1966-1969 under President Lyndon B. Johnson. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University and a bachelor of law from Vanderbilt University Law School. He is survived by three children and three grandchildren.