James William Haley

James William Haley, Jr., 81, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, died June 8, 2024, at Mary Washington Hospital.

He was born September 28, 1942, in Washington, DC, the son of James W. Haley and Ayliffe Eleanor Heller Haley. Raised in Arlington County, Virginia, he attended St. Stephen's Episcopal School for Boys in Alexandria, Virginia, graduating in 1960 as president of his senior class. He attended Washington and Lee University, graduating cum laude in 1964. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity, captained the W&L debate team, and was elected to Omicron Delta Epsilon national honor society in economics. Upon graduation, he attended the University of Virginia School of Law, graduating in 1967. At UVA Law, he was news editor of the Virginia Law Weekly, and played second base on the law school softball team.

In Charlottesville, VA in 1965, he met Ann Steiger Davis, who was pursuing her M.A. in English at the University. They were married June 10, 1966, and their first child, Laura Ann Haley, was born in Charlottesville May 8, 1967. Upon graduation from law school, Haley clerked for Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice John W. Eggleston. Following his tenure as law clerk, Haley became an assistant commonwealth's attorney in Arlington, Virginia, and an associate in the Arlington law firm Ball, McCarthy, and Creigh, from 1968 to 1972.

A son, Charles Davis Haley, was born July 14, 1969, in Alexandria, VA. In 1972, Haley moved to Fredericksburg, forming a partnership engaging in the general practice of law with Robert W. Ackerman, a friend and classmate at UVA Law. In addition to maintaining his private practice, from 1973-1978, Haley served as both Commonwealth's Attorney and as county attorney for civil matters for King George County.

Shelley Eleanor Haley, the couple's youngest child, was born August 10, 1977, at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, VA. In 1979, Haley began his judicial career when chosen by the circuit court judges of the 15th Judicial Circuit (which comprises the city of Fredericksburg and ten surrounding counties, including the entire Northern Neck) as a substitute judge of the general district and juvenile and domestic relations courts. Also in 1979, Haley joined William Sokol and William Ledbetter forming the law firm Sokol, Ledbetter and Haley.

In 1985, the legislature of Virginia elected Haley a judge of the general district courts of the 15th judicial circuit. In that capacity, he sat in almost all of such courts in the 15th circuit. Beginning in 1990, he served two terms as a circuit court judge of the 15th, sitting primarily in Stafford and King George counties, but also in many of the other jurisdictions within the circuit.

Many of his written opinions as circuit court judge were published in Virginia Circuit Opinions and in The Journal of Civil Litigation. In 2005, Haley was elected by the legislature to the Court of Appeals of Virginia. Since 2012, following mandatory retirement at age 70 as an active member of the Court of Appeals, he was unanimously elected by the court each year to continue to act as a senior judge and served in that capacity until his death.

Haley was a member of the bar of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia, the 4th Circuit of Virginia, and of the Supreme Court of the United States. From 2002–2005, Haley served as adjunct professor of business law at the University of Mary Washington and adjunct professor of European History at Germanna Community College.

In recent years he took great pleasure in lecturing on the Constitution of the United States to political science classes at the University of Mary Washington. He enjoyed writing and teaching, relished reading and thinking about history, geology, film, art, and philosophy. Judge Haley's 2022 novel Buddy Green incorporates many of those interests as it traces the short life of a Virginian (1898-1918) from Culpeper County swept by historical currents finally to the American military offensive in France in World War I.

He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Ann Davis Haley; two daughters and their spouses, Laura Haley Lohman and her husband, Gregory of Seattle, Washington, and Shelley Haley Huntington and her husband, Albert of Richmond, Virginia; his son, Charles Davis Haley and his wife, Linda of Boise, Idaho; and by seven grandchildren, Davis Haley Lohman, Henry Lewis Lohman, Thomas Charles Haley, Anna Olivia Haley, Mary Elena Haley, Ada Ann Huntington and Virginia Joy Huntington.

He loved Virginia and wished to have his ashes spread at a family farm in Culpeper County.

The family will receive friends from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, July 6, 2024 at the University of Mary Washington Jepson Center, 1119 Hanover Street, Fredericksburg, VA.

The family requests that gestures of sympathy take the form of donations to the University of Virginia School of Law or to the Central Rappahannock Regional Library.

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