Paul W. Painter
Savannah attorney Paul W. Painter, Jr. died on May 27, 2017, at his home in Savannah, Georgia.
He was born in Cleveland, on Aug. 10, 1945, while his father was on active duty in World War II. He grew up and attended public schools in Rossville, Walker County, Georgia, graduating from Rossville High School in 1963. He was the quarterback and co-captain of the school’s undefeated state championship football team, named to the Associated Press All-State football team, selected to play in the Georgia High School All-Star game at Grant Field, and given a scholarship by Coach Bobby Dodd to play football at Georgia Tech. He graduated with a degree in Industrial Management from Georgia Tech, where he was a member and president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.
After graduating from college, he attended the Navy’s Officer Candidate School at Newport, Rhode Island, where he received his commission. He was an active duty officer from 1968 to 1971, during much of which he was stationed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Independence, where he was an underway officer of the deck. On Valentine’s Day of 1971, he had his first date with Judith Ann (Judi) Babine of Norfolk, Virginia, who became the love of his life. The couple was married on August 28, 1971.
Two weeks after their wedding, the couple moved to Athens, Ga., where he entered law school at the University of Georgia. He graduated from the law school with honors in 1974 after serving as Senior Editor of the Georgia Law Review. After graduation, the couple moved to Savannah, where he began the practice of civil trial law he would pursue for more than forty years. In 1988, he was a founding partner of the law firm known today as Ellis, Painter, Ratterree & Adams LLP, from which he retired in 2015 for health reasons.
He was selected to be a “Georgia Super Lawyer” through a statewide, peer-reviewed process conducted by Law and Politics and Atlanta Magazine. Through that process, he was recognized as one of Georgia’s “Top 100” lawyers from the initial review process in 2004 until his last year of active practice in 2014 when he was also recognized as one of Georgia’s “Top 10” lawyers. He was also recognized in the peer-reviewed publication “Best Lawyers in America” beginning in 1994, where he was listed in four litigation categories: bet-the-company litigation, business litigation, product liability litigation and personal injury litigation.
He was past president of Georgia Law School’s alumni association and a member of the school’s Board of Visitors, past president of the Savannah Bar Association, and past president of the Georgia Defense Lawyers Association. He was a Fellow and Georgia state chair of the America College of Trial Lawyers, a past member and chair of the Georgia Board of Bar Examiners, and a member of various committees to which he was appointed by Georgia’s state and federal courts.
He was awarded the State Bar of Georgia’s Tradition of Excellence Award, the State Bar’s Chief Justice Thomas O. Marshall Professionalism Award, the University of Georgia Law School Association’s Distinguished Service Scroll, which is the law school’s highest alumni award, the Savannah Bar Association’s Professionalism Award (renamed the Frank S. Cheatham Professionalism Award after Judge Cheatham’s death), and the Paul W. Painter, Jr. Civility and Professionalism Award established by the Southeast Georgia Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates.
He was a founding member of the board of directors of Georgia Appleseed, Inc., a nonprofit, nonpartisan public interest law center whose mission is to increase justice in Georgia through law and policy reform and community engagement, a past director of Royce Learning Center, a school for children with learning disabilities, and a past president of the Savannah Arthritis Foundation. He was a member of Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church and its Alpha Sunday School class. He was also a member of The Savannah Golf Club, the Forest City Gun Club, and the Gridiron Society at the University of Georgia.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Judge Paul W. Painter and Juanita Davis Painter of Rossville, and a younger sister, Claudia Ann Painter who died in 1955. He is survived by his beloved wife of 45 years, Judi Painter, his son Paul W. Painter III and wife Stephanie Boaen Painter of Savannah, his sister and brother-in-law, Paulette Painter Grant and Calvin B. Grant of Chattanooga, Tennessee, his granddaughter Anna Clair Painter, two nephews and their wives, Philip Painter Grant (Sandy) of Fayetteville, Georgia, and Bradley Burton Grant (Farrah) of Chattanooga, a grand niece, Sarah Grant of Chattanooga, and his sister-in-law and her husband, Patricia Babine Collier and Jerry J. Collier of Norfolk, Virginia.
A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, May 31, at 11 a.m. at Wesley Monumental Methodist Church, 429 Abercorn Street in Savanah, with his friend and pastor Dr. Ben Martin officiating. A reception will follow the service. A private burial at Greenwich Cemetery will be held.
The family invites all attorneys and judges, along with their spouses, who are in attendance at the memorial service to serve as honorary pall bearers.
Charitable donations may be made to Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church, 429 Abercorn Street, Savanah, Georgia 31401, or to the American Cancer Society.