Hadley Edgar

HADLEY EDGAR

  LUBBOCK - Services for James Hadley Edgar, 82, of Lubbock, will be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009 at Westminster Presbyterian Church with the Rev. Baron Eliason officiating. Arrangement are under the direction of Rix Funeral Directors of Lubbock.
  Hadley passed away on Feb. 14, 2009 in Lubbock. He was born in Alice to the late Hadley and May Edgar on Nov. 7, 1926. He was raised in Cuero where he attended public school and graduated in 1944. He then attended Texas A&M for one semester when he joined the U.S. Navy and served as a radar man in both the Atlantic and Pacific theatres. Upon being discharged from the Navy, he returned to Texas A&M and graduated in 1949 with a B.A. degree in economics and a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve. In 1963 he was discharged with the rank of captain in Military Intelligence, U.S. Army Reserve.
  Upon graduation from A&M, he went to work for Proctor & Gamble in Dallas until 1953 when he entered the University of Texas Law School. He received his law degree in 1956 with honors and was a member of Phi Delta Phi Legal Fraternity, Order of the Coif, and Chancellors.
  He practiced law in Amarillo from 1956 to 1971 with the firm of Gibson, Ochsner, Harlan, Kinney & Morris, which later became Gibson, Ochsner, & Hankins. He had a general civil trial practice and was president-elect of the Amarillo Bar Association in 1971 when he moved to Lubbock and became a law professor at Texas Tech University School of Law. He taught Torts, Texas Procedure, Products Liability and Trial Advocacy and was named the Robert H. Bean Professor of Law.
  During his teaching career he was twice voted by the student body as the Outstanding Law Professor for the years 1982 and 1986, and served as president of the International Legal Fraternity of Phi Delta Phi from 1985 to 1987. He also served on the Pattern Jury Charge Committee of the State Bar of Texas and was its chairman from 1983 to 2004. He served on the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee from 1982 to 1992. He was president of the Lubbock County Bar Association in 1983 and 1984.
  He was an editorial consultant to Texas Torts & Remedies published by Lexis-Nexis Matthew Bender, a member of the American Law Institute, American Bar Association, and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and Texas Bar Foundation. He was of counsel to the Law offices of Frank L. Branson PC in Dallas from 1992 to 2008.
  He was a member of the Citizens Traffic Commission for the City of Lubbock and a member of the Mayor's Legal Services Advisory Committee.
  As a member of Southwest Lubbock Rotary Club, he was Paul Harris Fellow and a member of The Paul Harris Society. He was a past elder at Westminster Presbyterian Church.
  He was preceded in death by his three daughters, Elizabeth Ann, Barbara Lynn and Janet Biggs.
  Survivors include: his wife, Helen; son, John Biggs with his wife, Marta; and grandchildren, Juliana and Noah, all of New Orleans.
  He enjoyed traveling, reading, hunting, fishing and the outdoors generally.
  In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials be made to the Texas Tech Law School Foundation; J. Hadley Edgar Professorship, 1802 Hartford Ave., Lubbock, Texas 79409; the Volunteer Service Council of the Lubbock State School; or your favorite charity.