Obituary of Robert J. Warner

Robert (Bob) Jay Warner, Jr. died peacefully on July 29, 2016 in Linville, NC where the family has a summer home. A native Nashvillian, Bob was born on October 2, 1926, and was predeceased by his parents, Jeannette Sloan Warner and Dr. Robert Jay Warner. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Ruth DeMoss Robinson, daughter Harriet Overton Warner and grandson, Robert Arthur Overton Jones; his younger brother, John Sloan Warner (Peggy); sisters-in-law; Sarah Robinson McAndrew of San Rafael, CA and Lucia Robinson Dugliss (Roderick) of San Francisco; eight nieces and nephews and fifteen great nieces and nephews. He attended Ransom Elementary School, Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville and graduated from the University of the South at Sewanee, TN, where he majored in political science. He graduated from Yale University Law School in the class of 1951. When he turned eighteen in the fall of 1944 Bob volunteered for the Army. After basic training he was sent to the University of Pennsylvania to study Japanese, and he served as a special agent in the Counter-Intelligence Corps in Nagoya in 1946. He continued to serve in the Army Reserve for several decades, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before his retirement. In the summer of 1948, Bob was hired to drive Estes Kefauver around the state of Tennessee during Kefauvers campaign for the U.S. Senate. Part of his duties included caring for the raccoon, the campaign mascot. Always interested in politics, Bob became a staunch Democrat but never ran for office. He served as the Davidson County campaign manager for Edmund Orgills gubernatorial campaign in 1958, and for Eugene McCarthys presidential campaign in 1968. Bob formed his first law firm in Nashville with his friends Ward DeWitt and Henry Denmark Bell when they were just out of law school. He went on to work as an Assistant District Attorney for Davidson County in the early 1950s. During the Nashville sit-ins in 1960, Bob was appointed to Mayor Ben Wests ad hoc Human Relations Committee, which was instrumental in desegregating lunch counters in the city. He felt passionately about civil rights and social justice throughout his life. Bob worked primarily as a litigation attorney in Nashville throughout his long legal career. In 1958 he joined with Bill Dearborn and DeWeese Berry, Sr. to form Dearborn, Berry and Warner. In late 1970 Bob hired Lamar Alexander to join the firm, which became Dearborn, Warner and Alexander. In 1972 the firm merged with Bailey, Ewing, Dale and Connor to become Dearborn and Ewing. In 1992 most of that firm was merged into Boult, Cummings, Conners and Berry. Bob was a mentor to many younger lawyers in Nashville, including John Edwards, who was hired by Dearborn and Ewing in 1978. Bob was always proud of the fact that the firm was the only one he knew of which had produced two presidential candidates, one Republican and one Democrat. Bob was a cradle Episcopalian and lifelong member of Christ Episcopal Church. In his twenties he taught Sunday School with his friend Livingfield More. He served on the Vestry and planning committees. In later life he became a lay reader and chalice bearer. He was a great dancer. He had a wonderful sense of humor and loved to tell funny stories in the Southern tradition based on his law practice and extended family. His love of the North Carolina mountains began when he was a boy at Camp Yonahnoka in Linville. He was an avid golfer and, with the aid of a walker, was still out on the golf course daily until only a week before his death, enjoying the beauty of the great Blue Ridge. The family is especially grateful for the loving and devoted attention of Bobs caregivers, Channette Dobbins, Cheryl Ollis, and Vickie Smith during the final years of his life. There will be a memorial service at All Saints Chapel in Linville, Thursday August 4 at 11:30am. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Canon Memorial Hospital, Linville, NC 28646 or to Christ Church Cathedral, 600 Broadway, Nashville TN 37203. Online condolences may be shared with the Warner family at www.austinandbarnesfuneralhome.com Austin & Barnes Funeral Home is serving the Warner family.