George Landon Phillips, former United States Attorney, Southern District of Mississippi 1980 to 1994, died January 26, 2015. He is survived by his wife Nicole and three children, Garrison, Margaret, and Mary. He had battled esophageal cancer since July 2013. His primary residence was Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Since the early 1980s, he also maintained a ranch residence 200 miles west of Denver, out from Silt, Colorado; he named the spread Redwing from the turn of century song by the same name. Over the years and particularly in recent years, he and Nicole and the children have worked, lived, and played part time on their farm out from Hattiesburg and part time at Redwing Ranch.

Upon receiving his law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1973, George returned to Hattiesburg where he practiced law and served as a county prosecuting attorney. In 1980, he was appointed the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi. At the time of his appointment, George was the youngest U.S. Attorney in the United States. Bringing his background in local law enforcement to the forefront, he became a major player in the development of Law Enforcement Coordinating Committees (LECC), a program that became mandated for all U.S. Attorneys’ Office, and for which he received national appreciation. George served two terms on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC), 1981-1982 and 1988-1991. He is remembered for being instrumental in designing the official flag for the Office of theUnited States Attorney.

George made the fight against public corruption a priority, especially corruption in local and state government. During his tenure, in a major nationally-recognized undercover operation into county corruption involving federal program funds, seminal case law interpreting the enforcement and scope of §666, Title 18, in application to local and state government officials and agents was developed. George earned the well-deserved reputation as one of the nation’s leading U.S. Attorneys in the fight against public corruption. He served until 1994, leaving the U.S. Attorney’s Office as the most senior U.S. Attorney in service. The Congressional Record of 1994 commends George for his outstanding law enforcement accomplishments. During his term as United States Attorney, he served four Presidents, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan (two terms), George H.W. Bush and William Clinton.

Following service as U.S. Attorney, George served as Special Counsel to Mississippi senior Senator Thad Cochran (R) for six years. However, law enforcement service was his first passion and he answered the call by acceptance of the position of Director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. Governor Haley Barbour recognized George’s exceptional leadership qualities and then appointed George the Commissioner of Public Safety, the top State law enforcement position. He served with distinction as Top Cop in the monumental emergency disaster efforts addressing the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe in August 2005. In 2008, President George W.Bush appointed George to the position of Mississippi State Director for USDA Rural Development, his last position of public office, ending an outstanding career of public service.

Although retired from public service, for the last three years George has served as a member of the Executive Committee of the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), an organization of which he has been a member of and served for more than 30 years. A lifelong steadfast horseman, he was a dedicated participant in the affairs and projects of the AQHA, having served as a National Director since 2002. For a number of years preceding his death, George and Nicole dedicated a major portion of their daily lives and activities to the AQHA. The AQHA has been near and dear to his heart for most of his adult life.

A memorial service will be held on February 3, at 2 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi. As is our custom, NAFUSA arranged for an American flag to be flown over Main Justice and it will be presented to George’s family at the memorial service by NAFUSA member James Tucker, a close friend and colleague of George and his family.

George Cook 1981, Baltimore Sun

Walter E. Black Jr., a retired chief judge of the United States District Court for Maryland, passed away on Monday, September 27, 2014, at his home from complications from Parkinson’s disease. He was the U.S. Attorney for Maryland (1956-1957) and served as an AUSA in that district from 1953 to 1955. He was named to the U.S. District Court in 1982, and served as the chief judge (1991-1994) and retired in 2002.

A memorial service will be held at 2 PM Tuesday, October 14, at the Chapel at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, 5603 N. Charles Street, at Melrose Avenue, Baltimore.  Click here to read the obituary from The Baltimore Sun

As is our custom, NAFUSA has made arrangements for an American flag to be flown over Main Justice and presented to Judge Black’s family as a token of the appreciation in which he was held by his colleagues.

As reported here on June 26, 2014, long time NAFUSA member Johnnie Mac Walters died on June 24. NAFUSA arranged for an American flag to be flown over the Department of Justice in Mac’s honor, and NAFUSA member Walt Wilkins (South Carolina 2008-2010), currently the Circuit Solicitor in Greenville, presented the flag to Mac’s four children at a memorial service in Greenville, South Carolina on July 19. Walt reports that the children were very grateful and sincerely appreciated the gift from NAFUSA. Letters to the family were also sent by NAFUSA members Bill Sessions and John Clark.

Clark shared his “refreshed recollections” contained in his letter. He recalled the assistance Walters gave to Sessions and Clark in ensuring that their requests for timely decisions on matters crucial to their 1972 grand jury investigation did not get bogged down in the bureaucracy. Clark’s reference to “George” refers to George Parr, the notorious South Texas political boss under investigation for income tax evasion. The reference to “my book” refers to Clark’s non-fiction book The Fall of the Duke of Duval (Eakin Press, 1995), chronicling the year-long grand jury investigation and the multiple prosecutions that grew out of it.

Clark writes:

After re-reading the Times piece and thinking further about the chronology of events, it’s my recollection that Scott Crampton succeeded Johnnie as Ass’t AG – Tax Division in 1971, when Johnnie became IRS Commissioner. We knew Johnnie, of course, as well as Scott.  We knew at the outset of our investigation in the Spring of 1972 that we had a tight Statute of Limitations deadline for George’s 1966 tax year ; and when we needed an expedited decision on an immunity grant for Karl Stautz to help us meet that deadline, Scott (at DoJ), and Johnnie (at IRS) helped to accomplish getting the facts reviewed and the decision made promptly.  When we needed assurance a little later in 1972 that the mandatory review by IRS Regional Counsel of the proposed indictment wouldn’t get bogged down in needless bureaucratic delays, Johnnie assured us that it wouldn’t, and it didn’t.  Johnnie believed in us and in the validity of our investigation, and he was helpful to us in ensuring that key decisions were made after proper review and without unnecessary delay. As you may recall, we were concerned because Regional Counsel reviews and decisions had a reputation among US Attorneys’ offices as needlessly slow, as did immunity requests at DoJ. Our District Director, Bob Phinney, was also concerned about the potential delay we might encounter at Regional Counsel level.  I.A. Filer told me that he thought George Stephen (the Chief of Intelligence in Phinney’s office) was the one who selected the team of agents that was assigned to our investigation.  We had three Special Agents (I.A. Filer, Jerry Culver, and Charlie Volz) and crack Revenue Agent Ed Watts. As I wrote in my book, I never worked with a more professional or a more capable team of investigators.

John

At the time of the Parr investigation, Sessions was the United States Attorney for the WD of Texas (1971-1974) and Clark was the First Assistant. Sessions later became a United States District Judge for the WD of Texas and the Director of the FBI. Clark succeeded Sessions as U.S. Attorney (1975-1977) and is currently of counsel with the San Antonio law firm of Goode Casseb Jones Riklin Choate & Watson. He is also a past president of NAFUSA and one of the founders. Sessions is currently a partner at Holland & Knight in Washington.

Clark says, “Johnnie Mac Walters truly believed, as the oft-quoted maxim puts it, that ‘A public office is a public trust.’ I felt privileged to know him.”

Long time NAFUSA member Johnnie “Mac” Walters, died at his home in Greenville, South Carolina, on Tuesday, June 24, 2014. He was 94. See the full obituary from today’s New York Times. He served as assistant attorney general (1969-1971) and as commissioner of Internal Revenue (1971-1973) in the Nixon Administration.

As described in his memoirs, Our Journey, published in 2011,

In 1971 embattled President Richard M. Nixon sought to use the Internal Revenue Service as a weapon to investigate and punish his “enemies.” Tapes of White House conversations reveal that Nixon wanted as Commissioner “a ruthless son-of-a-bitch that he will do what he is told; that every income tax return I want to see I see; that he will go after our enemies and not go after our friends.”

Attorney General John Mitchell recommended Assistant AG Johnnie Mac Walters. Apparently no one checked with Walters who was “shocked” when White House Counsel John Dean presented him with an “enemies list.” Walters resisted pressure from the White House and told Secretary of the Treasury George Schultz that he could “have my job anytime he wanted it.”

Walters earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. He served in World War II in the U.S. Army Air Force as a navigator, flying fifty bombing missions. He was awarded a Legion of Honor award from the nation of France in 2012.

Walters is survived by his wife, Donna Hall Walters, and his sons Hilton and John Roy; and his daughters, Donna Diane Gent and Betsy Kukorowski; five grandchildren and one great-grandson. A memorial service will be held at the  First Baptist Church in Greenville at 2 p.m. on July 19, 2014.

At NAFUSA’s request, an American flag was flown over the Department of Justice on June  27, 2014, in honor of Johnnie Mac Walters and will be presented to his family as a token of the appreciation in which he was held by his colleagues.

Flown over the Department of Justice on June 27, 2014, in honor of Johnnie Mac Walters

Former United States Attorney Wayman Gray Sherrer, age, 86, of Oneonta, Alabama, died at his home on March 12, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Betty Rodgers Sherrer, and two children, Elizabeth Sherrer McKee and William Jefferson Sherrer. Sherrer is a graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law, class of 1956. He served his country as a member of the United States Marine Corps as a member of the military police prior to attending college. After graduating from law school, Wayman served for six years as a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Los Angeles, California, and Washington, D.C.  In 1964 he was elected County Solicitor (District Attorney) of Blount County, Alabama, for a four year term. In 1969, Wayman Sherrer was appointed United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama in Birmingham, Alabama. He served in that position until 1977. Wayman returned to the private practice of law in Oneonta, Alabama, in 1977, and in 2001, he was joined in the practice of law by his son. In all, Mr. Sherrer served the legal profession in Alabama for over 50 years.

As is the custom of NAFUSA, an American flag was flown over Main Justice and will be presented to the Sherrer family as a remembrance of the esteem in which he was held by his former colleagues.

American flag flown over Main Justice on March 18 in honor of Wayman Gray Sherrer

Carl Kirkpatrick, who served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, 1993-2000, passed away at his home on Tuesday, November 26, 2013.  He was a graduate of Vanderbilt University.

In addition to his service as U.S. Attorney, he was the district attorney general in the Second Judicial District of Sullivan County for 28 years. As DA, he prosecuted over 15,000 criminal cases and 700 jury cases (six resulting in the death penalty). While president of the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference, Kirkpatrick was instrumental in passing many state laws, improving the lives of Tennessee citizens.

Throughout his life Kirkpatrick was awarded numerous honors including: American Legion Distinguished Service Award, Kingsport Times News Award for Community Achievement, Optimist Clubs’ Law Enforcement Award, and the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety 1991 and 1992 Personal Service Award. In his leisure time, he also enjoyed tennis, motorcycling, water skiing, and snow skiing. Kirkpatrick  is survived by his wife, Kathleen Kirkpatrick and  step-daughter, Stefanie Hess. The family will receive friends, at a date to be determined, with a Celebration of Life (time) at Christ Covenant Presbyterian Church in Farragut, Tennessee. In lieu of flowers, the family would welcome contributions to the Wounded Warriors Project.

NAFUSA has made arrangements to have a flag flown over Main Justice in Kirkpatrick’s honor, and NAFUSA member and close friend, Russ Dedrick will present the flag to the Kirkpatrick family as a remembrance of the esteem in which he was held by his former colleagues.

Roy C. (Joe) Hayes, who served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, 1985-1989, died last Thursday, October 10, 2013, of pneumonia in Charlevoix, Michigan. Hayes also served in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and as the Charlevoix County prosecuting attorney. When he retired as the U.S. Attorney, Hayes moved back to Charlevoix in private practice until he retired in 2000. He is survived by his wife and two children who are also lawyers: Amy McNamara and Roy (Joe) Hayes III, and six grandchildren.

As is the custom of NAFUSA, arrangements will be made (as soon as the government is up and running once again) to have a flag flown over Main Justice and presented to the Hayes family as a remembrance of the esteem in which he was held by his former colleagues.

Click here to view a full obituary in the Detroit Free Press.

Harold J. (“Head”) Bender, 70, passed away on March 24, 2013. Bender worked several years at the Department of Justice and served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina in 1981. Following his federal service, Bender spent many years as a criminal defense attorney in Charlotte. He also spent many years as a football referee in the Southern Conference. He retired in 2010.

Head is survived by his wife Nita Robertson, his daughter, Currin Bender, and two step sons, Ford Robertson and Bradley Robertson. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm on Thursday, March 28, 2013, at St. Philip’s Episocpal Church in Southport, North Carolina. Click here to view full obituary

NAFUSA member John W. Stokes, Jr, who served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia from 1972-1977, passed away suddenly on February 24, 2013. Stokes also served as the United States Marshall for the Middle District of Georgia and as an assistant district attorney and assistant solicitor in Fulton County.

Stokes was a US Navy pilot during WWII, and flew off carriers in the Pacific. He is survived by his wife, Ullainee Musgrove Stokes and his three children, John Paul Stokes, Richard Stokes and Holly Brask. NAFUSA has requested an American flag to be flown over Main Justice in John’s honor and presented to his family as an expression of regard from his former colleagues.

A memorial service will be held on March 9, 2013 in Atlanta. Click here to read the entire obituary.