Robert Hobson Patterson Jr. (January 30, 1927 – July 12, 2012) was an American lawyer. He served as managing partner and chair of the executive committee of McGuireWoods, was president of the Virginia State Bar, and was a member – later president – of the board of visitors of his undergraduate alma mater, the Virginia Military Institute. He was the lead attorney for VMI in United States v. Virginia, though Theodore Olson argued the case before the Supreme Court of the United States.
Robert H. Patterson Jr. | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Patterson, c. 1980s | |
| Born | Robert Hobson Patterson Jr. January 30, 1927 Richmond, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | July 12, 2012 (aged 85) Richmond, Virginia, U.S. |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouses |
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| Children | 3 |
| Signature | |
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Politically a conservative, he was an assistant to Governor Thomas B. Stanley in 1956. He was later the Henrico County chair of Richard Nixon's presidential campaign in 1968 and was the state chair of Harry F. Byrd Jr.'s U.S. Senate campaign in 1970.[1] In 1988, he was floated as a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate against Democratic former governor Chuck Robb.[2]
Early life and family
editChildhood, military service, and education
editPatterson was born on January 30, 1927, in Richmond, Virginia, the only son of Margaret Snoddy (née Sargent; 1902–1987), a nurse, and Robert Hobson Patterson (1892–1985), a railroad engineer and United States Navy veteran of World War I.[3] His paternal grandfather, George W. Patterson of Buckingham County, Virginia was a second lieutenant in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.[4] He grew up in Richmond's working-class Church Hill neighborhood.[5]
Patterson attended the public John Marshall High School in downtown Richmond, serving as first captain of its corps of cadets during his senior year.[6] After graduating high school in 1944, he entered the Virginia Military Institute and was elected vice president of his class but was expelled the following year for being a troublemaker. He chose to enlist in the Navy and served during the closing months of World War II. In 1946, despite being offered an appointment to the United States Naval Academy, he returned to VMI, where he studied history.[7][5] The newly-formed Class of 1949-C, composed mostly of returning war veterans, elected him as class historian. He was a member of the school's football, polo, and track teams as well as its honor court and an assistant editor of the student newspaper, The VMI Cadet.[6] The 1949 Bomb yearbook highlights his work on behalf of the school's "States' Rights Club," an organization that was formed to support Strom Thurmond's segregationist 1948 presidential campaign.[8][9] He later attended the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was selected to be on the staff of the Virginia Law Review. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1952.[5]
Marriages
editPatterson married the former Luise Franklin Wyatt at Richmond's First Baptist Church on June 14, 1952, in a ceremony officiated by the church's lead pastor, Theodore F. Adams. His father served as his best man. The couple later traveled north for their honeymoon.[10] They went on to have three children: India, Robert III, and Margaret. Luise died in on January 17, 2001.[11]
Patterson later married Anne Marie Whittemore, a partner at McGuireWoods who served as his co-counsel in the VMI case, on November 15, 2003. In 1971, he was the only partner to oppose hiring Whittemore as an associate, voting on the basis of her sex, though he later admitted to having changed his mind about her.[12][13][7]
Later life and death
editOn December 31, 1999, Patterson retired from the practice of law, devoting himself to volunteer work.[5]
Patterson's health began to decline after he suffered a stroke on February 18, 2011.[13] He died on July 12, 2012, at VCU Medical Center in Richmond. Following services at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Goochland County, he was buried in the church cemetery alongside his first wife.[5][11]
References
edit- ^ "Garland Names Del. Dalton Head of State Organization". Richmond Times-Dispatch. September 6, 1970. pp. B1, B3. Retrieved February 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Schapiro, Jeff E. (March 23, 1988). "Patterson called possible entrant for Senate race". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. B5. Retrieved February 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Three generations honored". Richmond Times-Dispatch. May 16, 1982. p. H4. Retrieved February 20, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "UDC marks anniversary on Monday". Richmond Times-Dispatch. May 31, 1984. p. C4. Retrieved February 20, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e Schapiro, Jeff E. (July 13, 2012). "R.H. Patterson dies; remade McGuireWoods". Richmond Times-Dispatch. pp. B1, B9. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
- ^ a b Belliveau, Scott E. (2012). "Robert H. Patterson Jr. '49C". VMI Alumni Review. No. 4. p. 10. Retrieved February 20, 2023 – via Issuu.
- ^ a b Harris, John F. (April 11, 1991). "For VMI, An Unlikely Defender of Discrimination". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
- ^ The 1949 Bomb. Virginia Military Institute. 1949. pp. 96–97, 110–111, 191, 194. Retrieved February 20, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "States Righters Claim 28,000 Membership". Richmond Times-Dispatch. September 28, 1948. p. 2. Retrieved February 20, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Miss Wyatt Married Yesterday". Richmond Times-Dispatch. July 15, 1952. p. C11. Retrieved February 20, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Death Notices". Richmond Times-Dispatch. January 18, 2001. p. B6. Retrieved February 20, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Hennessy, Joan (June 22, 2009). "Speak Softly, Shatter a Glass Ceiling". Super Lawyers. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
- ^ a b "Oral History of Anne Marie Whittemore" (PDF). American Bar Association Women Trailblazers in the Law Project. Interviewed by Molly M. Remes. 2010–2011. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
External links
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Media related to Robert H. Patterson Jr. at Wikimedia Commons
