SEARCH SITE

VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

ACROSS SESSIONS

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

2011 SESSION

11100079D
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 490
Offered February 16, 2011
Celebrating the life of George Borum Little.
----------

Patrons-- Marsh, Barker, Edwards, Herring, Houck, Locke, Lucas, Marsden, McEachin, Miller, J.C., Northam, Petersen, Puckett, Puller, Ticer and Whipple
----------

WHEREAS, George Borum Little, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, was called to eternal rest on July 15, 2010; and

WHEREAS, George Borum Little was educated in the Baltimore and Richmond Public Schools and attended Hampden-Sydney College before entering the United States Army in 1943 to serve in World War II in the Pacific Theater; and

WHEREAS, George Borum Little served his country valiantly for three years, which included tours of duty in the Sulu Archipelago, Philippines, and after World War II, he returned to Virginia and earned his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1949, where he was a member of Phi Delta Phi, Order of the Coif, and associate editor of the Virginia Law Review; and

WHEREAS, following law school, he served as law clerk for the Honorable Morris A. Soper, United States Court of Appeals, 4th Judicial Circuit, before being recalled to service in the Korean War as a member of the United States Army Counterintelligence Corps, headquartered in Beppu, Japan; and

WHEREAS, during the era of Massive Resistance in Virginia, in which public schools were closed in defiance of the United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 United States 483 (1954), in which segregation was ruled unconstitutional, George Borum Little was among many prominent Virginians who clashed with formidable state leaders and a powerful political organization to keep public schools open; and

WHEREAS, a fierce advocate for minority rights and the African American community, he joined the Virginia Committee for Public Schools, a grassroots group that lobbied the General Assembly and advertised its opposition to Massive Resistance in local newspapers; and

WHEREAS, after federal and state courts struck down the legal underpinnings of Massive Resistance, the legal battle for school desegregation continued, and in 1970, George Borum Little served as counsel for the Richmond City School Board during a series of hearings in federal district court that resulted in the Board-adopted crosstown busing desegregation plan; and

WHEREAS, as a result of the crosstown busing desegregation decision, many whites fled the city, and in 1973, George Borum Little represented the Richmond City School Board in its unsuccessful attempt to consolidate Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield public schools to prevent resegregation due to a concentration of African American children in Richmond’s public schools; and

WHEREAS, praised by his law partner and friend, attorney James K. Cluverius, as “a brilliant lawyer, widely admired, and without peer as a tough negotiator,” George Borum Little practiced law for 57 years, and although well-known for litigation pertaining to desegregation, in the years prior to his retirement in 2006 he concentrated his law practice in estate planning and trust administration; and

WHEREAS, George Borum Little was also well-known for his representation of Freedlander, Inc., the Mortgage People, in its bankruptcy proceedings; he was counsel for a claimants committee in litigation against the A.H. Robins Company, manufacturer of the Dalkon Shield intrauterine device; and was a self-styled watchdog of the Virginia Retirement System; and

WHEREAS, George Borum Little practiced law as a partner in the law firms of Mays & Valentine LLP (formerly Denny, Valentine and Davenport); Browder, Russell, Little, Morris, and Butcher (formerly Browder, Russell, Little and Morris); and Little, Parsley, and Cluverius, before retiring from George B. Little and Associates, PC, after a long and distinguished legal career; and

WHEREAS, George Borum Little was a member of the Bar Association of the City of Richmond, the Virginia State Bar, the American Bar Association, and the Inter-American Bar Association and served as chairman of the Trustee Board and chairman of the Official Board of the Centenary United Methodist Church, where he was an active member since 1939; and

WHEREAS, an independent and confident man, George Borum Little was an exceptional and skilled attorney who was diligent and dependable, often arriving early to the office and staying late; he was a taskmaster who expected excellence from others, and was adept at securing clients under the most unlikely circumstances; and

WHEREAS, George Borum Little was a devoted and loving husband, father, and grandfather whose loved ones will sorely miss him; and

WHEREAS, George Borum Little’s tenacity and dedication to the law and his memory will be cherished by family, friends, clients, and colleagues; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly hereby note with great sadness the loss of George Borum Little; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of George Borum Little as an expression of the General Assembly’s esteem for his courage, convictions, and contributions to the people of the Commonwealth, and of the General Assembly’s respect for his memory.