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John W. Scott Jr. became |
John W. Scott Jr., the Fredericksburg area's first black judge and a civil rights pioneer from the time he was a teenager, died yesterday after having eye surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
He was 59.
According to friends, Scott had cornea surgery Tuesday. As he was preparing to leave the Baltimore hospital yesterday, he collapsed and died.
Called "Scottie" by his close friends, Scott was known from an early age as a hard worker who excelled in school. He served as a circuit judge in Fredericksburg for the past 12 years.
Congenital glaucoma had left him without sight in one eye and with impaired vision in the other, but that never seemed to slow him down.
"He had what many of us would consider a disability, but he never allowed that to define his activities or his effectiveness," said the Rev. Lawrence Davies, a former Fredericksburg mayor and pastor at Shiloh (Old Site) Baptist Church.
In 1963, Scott and five other students won a federal lawsuit after they were denied the right to attend James Monroe High School. They then enrolled in what was a major turning point for integration in Fredericksburg.
V. James Ventura, a longtime local attorney who has known Scott since his high school days, said he admired the way he handled himself in a difficult situation.
"For this community, in this era, Scottie was unique," Ventura said. "He was a young black man who went through the wars of segregation who came to be accepted and recognized by all of society as a leader."
breaking barriers
Scott--whose mother, Mamie Scott, was a civil rights leader--was a strong student at James Monroe. After high school, he earned an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University, and then a law degree from the University of Virginia.
After graduating law school in 1973, Scott worked for the Legal Defense Fund of the NAACP. He then joined Hill, Tucker & Marsh, a Richmond law firm known for its civil rights work.
Scott was president of the Fredericksburg branch of the NAACP from 1981 to 1989.
The year he relinquished that post, he was appointed to a General District Court judgeship in Stafford County, becoming the first black judge in the area.
In 1996, he became a circuit judge, sitting primarily in Fredericksburg.
Maxine Sullivan has been Scott's legal assistant throughout his time on the Circuit Court. She also worked closely with him when he was a General District Court judge.
"I couldn't have asked for a better person to work for," Sullivan said. "And he wasn't just a boss, he was a friend."
Sullivan said that when she got the phone call yesterday, she was expecting to hear that the surgery went well and that she'd have to line up substitute judges to replace Scott while he recovered.
Instead, she got the shocking news that her boss and friend was dead.
'brilliant and respected'
Judge James W. Haley Jr. was a colleague of Scott's before moving on to the state Court of Appeals a few years ago. He remained a close friend.
Haley, who has known Scott for more than 35 years, recalled Scott having a similar surgery several years ago that greatly improved his vision. But apparently it didn't last.
Haley said Scott had the type of personality that made him popular in and out of the courtroom.
Among Scott's outside interests, Haley said, was a Lionel train collection "that is one of the finest you'll ever see.
"John Scott was a gentleman who overcame social and physical obstacles to become a brilliant and respected judge, and he did so without bitterness as to the past," Haley said.
Ventura said Scott was planning to retire in May after his son Jeffrey finished college. He said it saddens him that Scott won't be around to enjoy his retirement.
Scott is survived by his wife, Alda White, and sons Jeffrey, John III and Christopher. Funeral arrangements were incomplete yesterday.
Fredericksburg Mayor Tom Tomzak said the City Council will honor Scott with a proclamation at the council's May 13 meeting.
City leaders had been working closely with Scott on plans to modernize Fredericksburg's court facilities, a need Scott had been outspoken about for years.
"I'm very sorry that he will not see the new courthouse," Tomzak said. "He's been a champion of civil rights his entire life, an advocate of the rights of everyone in his court. He's really a part of Fredericksburg."
Emily Battle: 540/374-5413
Email: ebattle@freelancestar.com
