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1999 SESSION


SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 564
On the death of Fred W. Bateman.

Agreed to by the Senate, February 27, 1999
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 27, 1999

WHEREAS, Fred W. Bateman, a retired Newport News Circuit Court judge and a former member of the Senate of Virginia, died on January 10, 1999; and

WHEREAS, a native of Roper, North Carolina, Fred Bateman was a graduate of Wake Forest University and the law school at the University of North Carolina; and

WHEREAS, Fred Bateman joined the U.S. Navy after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, was commissioned, and served as a line officer on ships in the South Pacific during the war; and

WHEREAS, Fred Bateman moved to Richmond in 1947 and to what was then Warwick County in 1952, joining the law firm of Newman, Allaun and Downing; and

WHEREAS, elected to the Senate from the 27th Senatorial District in 1959, Fred Bateman served until 1967 and was a member of the Senate Finance, Courts of Justice, and Transportation Committees; and

WHEREAS, a successful and widely respected attorney for many years, Fred Bateman became a judge of the Newport News Circuit Court in 1981 and quickly established a reputation for fairness, dignity, and knowledge of and respect for the law; and

WHEREAS, Judge Bateman retired at age 72 after eight years on the bench and continued to serve as substitute judge for several years; and

WHEREAS, Fred Bateman was a member and former president of the Newport News Bar and the Virginia State Bar, was a former chairman of the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission, and was the founding chairman of the criminal law section of the state bar; and

WHEREAS, during his long career, Fred Bateman often served as friend and mentor to young attorneys in Newport News, winning the respect and affection of an entire generation of lawyers; and

WHEREAS, in September of 1998, the Newport News Bar Association honored Judge Bateman as the first recipient of its Lifetime Service Award; and

WHEREAS, throughout a long and illustrious career, Judge Fred Bateman served the people of Newport News and the Commonwealth as a lawyer, a member of the Senate of Virginia, and a circuit court judge; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly note with great sadness the passing of a distinguished Virginian, Judge Fred W. Bateman; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Judge Fred W. Bateman as an expression of the high regard in which his memory is held by the members of the General Assembly and the citizens of Virginia.