Thomas Maxfield "Max" Bahner
Thomas Maxfield "Max" Bahner, with joyful anticipation, entered the next adventure on October 13, 2023. He was born on November 26,1933 in Little Rock, Arkansas to his dear parents, Catharine Garrott Bahner, and Carl Tabb Bahner. He spent an idyllic childhood with his sisters, Molly Bahner Day and Frances Bahner Henricks in Jefferson City, Tennessee. As a child, he ran a newspaper route there while being chased by the neighborhood dogs!
He attended Jefferson City High School, and then attended Carson-Newman College where his father was head of the Chemistry department. He majored in Biology and minored in History and English, anticipating a career in medical school. Following college, he decided to attend Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky where he developed a true appreciation for the study of Greek and Hebrew. It was here that he met the love of his life, Sara Minta McIntyre. After brief assignments to churches around the southeast, he felt called to the law. They married his first week of law school and moved to Charlottesville, Virginia for Max to attend the University of Virginia School of Law. Max frequently said that if he had a dozen lives, he'd spend every one of them as a lawyer. As Max's partner, Nelson Irvine said, "Max brought to the legal profession an abundant curiosity and respect for scholarship and continuing education. He shared an understanding that the profession of the law is a life-long learning adventure that occurs while the law and the profession, like the society in which it functions, are evolving at an ever-accelerating rate of change." He was a voracious reader
and attentive listener. He wanted to get to know you! He was dedicated to his firm, his clients and thrived on mentoring many young lawyers over the years.
In Sara, Max found his best supporter and lifelong friend. They weathered life's challenges together, traveled the world, but were most happy at home, "Songwood," on Signal Mountain where he enjoyed the beauty of nature and the many rhododendrons, azaleas, and daffodils he planted throughout the property. They centered their happy home around family. They were devoted to each other and their children, Maxfield Tabb Bahner, Sara Margaret Bahner, Minta Susan Bahner Lancaster, and Margaret Catharine Bahner Daniels (Lillard). Max reiterated daily how proud he was of his children, sons-in-law Frank Lancaster and David Lillard, and his beloved grandchildren, Michael, Thomas, and Max Lancaster, and Sara Catharine Daniels and step-grandchildren, Jackson and Mason Lillard.
After working with Kefauver, Duggan, and MacDonald, he began practice with the Chambliss Firm in 1964. His career spanned more than 60 years, and in that time, Max was a Senior Member of the firm's Litigation Section. He was an AAA arbitrator and a Rule 31 certified mediator. He was past
president of both the Chattanooga and Tennessee Bar Associations. In addition, he served nearly 17 years in the American Bar Association House of Delegates, and he served on the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association and on the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors. He was the Chair of the Tennessee Supreme Court's Advisory Commission on the Rules of Civil Procedure, and in that capacity helped write the Tennessee Rules of Evidence adopted by the Tennessee Supreme Court. He chaired the Task Force to review and make changes to the Tennessee Rules of Judicial Conduct which were also adopted by the Tennessee Supreme Court and have become influential in revisions in other states. He was a founding member of the Tennessee Bar Foundation and the Chattanooga Bar Foundation, and a Life Fellow of the American Bar Association. He was a founding member of the Tennessee Supreme Court Historical Society. He was a fellow of the American Board of Trial Advocates and the American College of Trial Lawyers. In 2011, he was inducted into the Legal Aid of East Tennessee's Pro Bono Hall of Fame. He received the John H. Pickering Award of Achievement from the American Bar Association in 2011, the Distinguished Service Award from The Kiwanis Club of Chattanooga in 2013, and the Outstanding Service Award from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2014. In 2018, he traveled to the United States Supreme Court to accept from Chief Judge Stewart the American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Sixth Circuit at the Celebration of Excellence. In May of this year, he was inducted into the Robert Reedy Bryan Society at Carson-Newman University.
In addition to these accolades, Max felt keenly a responsibility to help those he could. These values were deeply instilled in him by his parents and grandparents. He regularly did pro bono legal work and shared his talents in other ways as well. He was an ardent supporter of Legal Aid and was a past recipient of the Bruce Bailey Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award in 2013. He was a champion of access to justice in Tennessee. For 40 years, he served in various capacities as a past president, board member and honorary member of the Orange Grove Center. He was a board member of the BOTA Foundation, the Chattanooga Symphony, the Chattanooga United Way, the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga, the University of Chattanooga Foundation, and Carson-Newman University, where he was on the Executive Committee, and Chair of the Board for five years. He was a past president of the Chattanooga Rotary Club and served on numerous other committees and organizations as well.
Max was a man of deep and ever-growing faith who gleaned spiritual truths both from his Baptist upbringing and education, and his longtime attendance at St. Paul's Episcopal Church. He taught Sunday School for countless years which he loved.
From first to last, his was a life of high ideals and devotion to God, his family, and his profession. A line from one of Sara's poems rings true: "Max of the golden heart."
Family members who have gone on before are his parents and grandparents, his son, Maxfield Tabb Bahner and daughter, Sara Margaret Bahner. He is survived by his loving wife of 66 years, his two daughters, Susan (Knoxville, TN) and Catharine (Chattanooga, TN) and their spouses and children and stepchildren, his sisters, Molly Bahner Day (Grafton, VA) and Frances Bahner Hendricks
(Charlotte, NC) as well as his two brother in-laws, countless nieces and nephews and their offspring.
View www.heritagebattlefield.com to share condolences with the family.
A memorial service will take place at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Friday, November 10 at 1 PM. Memorial gifts may be made to Orange Grove Center, 615 Derby Street Chattanooga, TN 37404 or University of Virginia Law School Foundation, 580 Massie Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903. Please note T. Maxfield Bahner '60 Unrestricted Endowment.
Arrangements by Heritage Funeral Home & Crematory, Battlefield Parkway.