Judge Perker Lee Meeks Jr.

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Judge Perker Lee Meeks, Jr.

Judge Perker Lee Meeks, Jr.

Friday, August 6, 1943 – Friday, October 24, 2025

Judge Perker L. Meeks, Jr. was born on Friday, August 6, 1943, the sixth child to Mr. Perker L. Meeks, Sr. and Mrs. Lee Etta Stanley Meeks, in Tallahassee, Florida. He was preceded in death by his parents and five siblings (Christopher "CC", Mariah, Olivia, Betty "BB" and Lee Walter).

Perker attended schools in Leon County during segregation and graduated from Lincoln High School in 1961, earning a basketball scholarship to attend Florida A&M University (FAMU). At an earlier age, Perker began as an activist for justice and equal rights for all. At 16 years old, Perker and other African Americans sat in the front of the local five and ten cents store in protest of its segregated lunch counter. Local law enforcement officers responded with physical force, which resulted in a permanent scar on the back of his head. In college, he continued his efforts on school campuses to dismantle racism, resulting in civil rights litigation that went to the United States Supreme Court.

At FAMU, Perker was a scholar and star athlete. He was the varsity basketball team captain, playing forward for the Rattlers. He earned his undergraduate degree in political science and history in 1965. His passion for justice and education continued when he received his Juris Doctor from FAMU College of Law in 1968. He often joked that he was the last to graduate from FAMU's original law school because he was the tallest. He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1969. On Saturday, May 7, 2022, Judge Meeks portrait was installed in Orlando and the plaque listing all 57 of the original alumni was installed at Coleman Library in Tallahassee on Saturday, September 9, 2022.

After visiting San Francisco, he moved to the city and worked as a high school teacher while studying for the bar. He was admitted to the California Bar in 1971, distinguishing himself in the San Francisco Public Defender's Office for seven years, trying hundreds of cases and serving as Head Trial Attorney. He was appointed to the San Francisco Municipal Court by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. on Friday, January 18, 1990. He was elevated to the rank of superior judge in 1998, serving with distinction as Assistant and Presiding Judge of the Municipal Court, receiving honors and recognition by the California Trial Lawyers Association, the Charles Houston Bar Association, the Asian American Bar Association, and the California Judges Association.

Perker loved R&B music and sports, particularly playing basketball in his community with the Jewish Community Center's "San Francisco Fog", Hustler and Schneider LLP, and the Charles Houston Bar Association's "Chocolate Bar", to name a few community basketball teams. He also served his community, volunteering many hours helping young people, serving on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Pretrial Project, and the San Francisco General Hospital Volunteers, as well as the Paradise Baptist Church County Jail Project, and teaching social studies and history at St. Michael's Catholic Summer School program.

Perker retired from the bench in 2006. He continued to work as an appointed Judge until 2016, when he finally retired.

Perker Lee Meeks Jr. was a loving and supportive father to Perker Lee Meeks III (Alexis Ashleigh Delsid-Meeks) of San Francisco, CA and Alicia Nicole Meeks Hunter (Todd Hunter) of Washington, D.C., and grandfather to Stella Justice Delsid-Meeks, Miles Xavier Lee Hunter and Mali Reid Hunter. He is also survived by two nieces LaVonda Renee Meeks Bird, Jennifer Meeks Grant; two nephews, Winfred Roberts, Christopher Meeks, great-nieces, great-nephews, and a host of cousins and friends. Family and friends affectionately called him "Lee June".

Friends and family are invited to pay their respects on Saturday, December 6th at 11:00 am at Testerina Primitive Baptist Church - 5520 Miccosukee Rd, Tallahassee, Florida 32308. The Honorable Judge Meeks will be laid to rest at Clifford Hill Cemetery in Tallahassee Florida.

On behalf of the staff and management of Strong & Jones Funeral Home, Inc., we would like to extend our deepest sympathy to the family of Judge Perker Lee Meeks, Jr.