STEPHEN KYLE TAPP

Stephen Kyle Tapp was born April 20, 1949, in Memphis to Kyle Tapp, deceased, and Sylvia Mathews Tapp Caudle. Mr. Tapp attended Idlewild Elementary, Memphis University School, and Bellevue Junior High, before graduating Memphis Central in 1967 with highest academic honors. He was a National Merit Scholar and one of two seniors from Tennessee chosen by the LBJ White House as a Presidential Scholar that year. He was a member of the Harvard Class of 1971, returning to complete his A.B. there in 1981. He graduated from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law in 1990, and he was a proud member of the Tennessee Bar Association, until his death of an apparent heart attack, which was discovered on March 12, 2014. The depth and breadth of Steve Tapp’s interests and hobbies was immeasurable—from computer science to gardening, playing blues guitar, writing poetry, reading Eastern philosophy and cooking. He was fascinated with politics and the impact of laws on our society. He held strong opinions on most topics and never feared questioning authority or ridiculing attitudes which he felt threatened the principles upon which the United States was founded. For many years, Steve shared his concerns on his blog, the Daily Docket, often under the pseudonym “Wintermute,” named for an artificial intelligence character in the novel Neuromancer. Steve Tapp is survived by his mother Sylvia (91), stepfather Stanton (Steve) Caudle (93) and his younger sister Denise Tapp, all of Memphis. He will be remembered today, which would have been his 65th birthday, by his immediate family and a few friends, with the planting of a memorial tree.