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 Chattanooga and Crossville. In 2008, he formed his own firm specializing in of estate planning. Visitation will be held on Tuesday from 4 to 7 p.m. EST at the Hamilton Funeral Home, 4506 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Choices Chattanooga, Compassion International or World News Group.

The funeral service for 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Gilbert Stroud Merritt Jr. will take place tomorrow beginning at 11:30 a.m. CST at Christ Episcopal Cathedral in Nashville. The service will be live streamed on the church’s YouTube channel for those who cannot attend in person. For those attending in person, a visitation and reception will take place after the funeral at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Merritt died Monday after a battle with metastatic prostate cancer.

Longtime Newport attorney, Fred L. “Freddie” Myers Jr. died suddenly on Wednesday 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. A graveside service will take place tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Union Cemetery, 420 Mineral St., Newport, TN 37821. Memorial donations may be made to the Newport Animal Shelter, P.O. Box 370, Newport, TN 37821, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital 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 on Monday after a battle with metastatic prostate cancer, the Tennessean reports. He was 86. A fixture in the judiciary and in 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 1966-1969 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. Former Vice President Al Gore described Merritt as "A deeply intelligent and deliberative legal thinker, he was an ardent defender of the liberties that form the foundations of our Constitution…” Funeral services will be held for Merritt at the Christ Episcopal Cathedral in Nashville on Jan. 22 at 11:30 a.m. CST, followed by a visitation and reception at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

Former Davidson County General Sessions and Circuit Judge Barbara Haynes died yesterday after a long illness, the Tennessean reports. 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 Democratic 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 37215; Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, 2200 Children’s Way, Nashville 37232; Pencil for Schools, 7199 Cockrill Bend Blvd., Nashville 37209; or a charity of the donor’s choice. A celebration of life will be held at a later date.

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. A private family interment was already held. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. 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.

Knoxville lawyer George P. Chandler died Jan. 4, just a few weeks shy of his 90th birthday. He earned his law degree from the George Washington University and went on to hold positions with the U.S. Patent Office, NASA, Monsanto Company and Eastman Chemical Company. He retired from Eastman in 1995. Chandler lived in Kingsport for 39 years, where he served on the board of directors for Holston Habitat for Humanity and the Kingsport Community Ministry Center. Following retirement, he relocated to Knoxville and focused on volunteer work. A graveside service will be held Saturday at 1 p.m. EST at Berry Highland Memorial Cemetery, 5315 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to First Presbyterian Church, 100 W. Church Circle, Kingsport, TN 37660 or Cokesbury United Methodist Church, 9919 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37922.

Texas lawyer Sarah Weddington, who at 26 successfully argued the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade before the U.S. Supreme Court, died Sunday, the Associated Press reports. She was 76. Just a few years after graduating from the University of Texas School of Law, Weddington brought a class-action suit on behalf of a pregnant woman challenging a state law that largely banned abortions. The case of “Jane Roe” first was brought against the Dallas County district attorney but eventually advanced to the Supreme Court. Weddington argued the case before the high court twice, in December 1971 and again in October 1972, resulting in the 7-2 ruling that legalized abortion. Weddington ran for the Texas House of Representatives in 1972 and served three terms before becoming general counsel at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and later working as an advisor on women's issues to President Jimmy Carter.

Martha Pearl Cobb of Maryville died Dec. 22 at the age of age 91. Cobb taught economics, government, legal issues, world history and psychology in the Alcoa School System for 40 years. Among her many honors, she was president of the Alcoa Education Association, a liaison to the Tennessee State Board of Education and the Tennessee Department of Education’s Teacher of the Year finalist. She also received the Tennessee Bar Association’s previously-awarded honor recognizing a high school teacher for promoting understanding of the legal system. Donations may be made to the Blount Memorial Hospital Foundation, 907 E Lamar Alexander Pkwy., Maryville, TN 37801, or to the Blount County Retired Teachers Associations’ Scholarship Fund, 853 Summer Hill Dr., Friendsville, TN 37737.

John W. Stewart of Adams died on Oct. 31. He was 70. Stewart graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1976 and became only the second African American to serve as an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Kentucky, He also served as First Assistant Commonwealth Attorney for Jefferson County from 1988 to 1993. He was informally known as the “I-65 Lawyer.” In lieu of flowers, please make donations in John's memory to: Kappa Alpha Psi, Epsilon Rho Achievement Fund and mail to: WKU Foundation, 292 Alumni Ave., Bowling Green, KY 42101 or Benevolent Lodge Order #210, P O Box 3774, Clarksville, TN 37043.