Jack Coulter

1923-2007

Jack Coulter, a retired judge and attorney who practiced law in the Roanoke Valley for 58 years, died Thursday evening.

Coulter broke his back during a fall in July. He had complications from the surgery and was treated at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital for about two months. He was transferred to Roanoke Rehabilitation Center on Thursday to undergo physical therapy, said his son Philip Coulter. Jack Coulter died about 7 p.m.

He was 83 years old.

"He was bigger than life," said Philip Coulter, who opened the Coulter and Coulter law firm with his father in 1990. "He had a reputation for integrity and scholarship that was bar none."

As a judge, the elder Coulter always kept a list of his rules for sentencing -- such as avoiding unnecessarily long sentences -- beneath his glass on the bench, said Cliff Weckstein, a Roanoke circuit judge.

Coulter was twice nominated for seats on the Virginia Supreme Court, the second coming down to the flip of a coin. In 1987, Roanoke-area legislators flipped a coin to break a deadlock over whether to back Coulter or Chief Appeals Court Judge Lawrence Koontz for the state Supreme Court.

That seat eventually went to the Winchester Circuit Court Judge Henry Whiting. Koontz succeeded Whiting in 1995.

"That was regrettable, unfortunate and should have never been done," former state Sen. Granger Macfarlane said of the incident. Macfarlane nominated Coulter for the seat. "In my view, judges should be selected on the basis of their training, experience, education and judicial temperament.

"Jack met all those with flying colors."

Coulter retired from the judgeship in 1989, but remained active in Roanoke civic groups and in legal circles. Coulter, a World War II Navy veteran, remained "very dedicated to many of his friends who did not survive the Second World War," Philip Coulter said.

Jack Coulter was a driving force behind the erection of the Lee Plaza War Memorial and was vocal about preserving Victory Stadium. He also persuaded the Roanoke City Council to hang flags at the memorial on holidays, particularly Flag Day and Independence Day, Macfarlane said.

Coulter also was instrumental in the installation of justice-themed art inside and outside the Roanoke courthouse, Weckstein said.

Philip Coulter said he didn't think there was a civic project in Roanoke Valley "that did not have his [Jack Coulter's] fingerprint on it in some way."

During his Navy career, Coulter witnessed the Bikini atomic bomb testing and was at Tokyo Bay during the Japanese surrender. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946. He later graduated with honors from Washington and Lee University Law School.

Coulter became a civil trial lawyer in 1949 and was named a judge in 1973. In 1985, he was named chief judge of the 23rd Circuit, which includes Roanoke, Salem and Roanoke County. He also was a member of the Roanoke School Board from 1964 to 1969.

Jack Coulter is survived by his wife of 62 years, Jeanne; their children David, Philip and Kathy; and seven grandchildren.