Ellington

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — Retired Mississippi Court of Appeals Judge Eugene Love Fair Jr. of Hattiesburg died Wednesday, the administrative office of state courts said. He was 74.

Fair served seven years on the Court of Appeals before retiring in December 2018. He previously served five years as a chancery court judge for Forrest, Lamar, Marion, Pearl River and Perry counties.

“He is respected and loved by all of us," Court of Appeals Chief Judge Donna Barnes of Tupelo said in the court statement. “Judge Fair’s experience on the chancery court bench was invaluable to the Court of Appeals. He was an excellent judge and a better human being. ... He brought cheer with him wherever he went.”

Justice James D. Maxwell II of Oxford called Fair “a great judge and an even better man.”

“I can just see him now walking into our chambers holding that coffee cup," Maxwell said. "He loved to tell stories, had tremendous pride in his children, and had an unmatched knowledge of his hometown of Louisville, Mississippi.”

Fair earned his law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1968, then served four years on active duty with the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General Corps during the Vietnam War, earning the rank of lieutenant commander. He spent two years as chief legal officer at the Naval Air Station at Corpus Christi, Texas, and was a reservist in the Jackson Naval J.A.G. Reserve Unit for five years.

Fair was in private law practice in Hattiesburg for 34 years. During some of that time, he served by appointment as a special master in chancery court and as a guardian representing the interests of children in youth court. Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Neville Patterson appointed Fair to the Mississippi Ethics Commission in 1984, and Fair served 20 years.

“He was not only learned but compassionate," Chancellor Deborah Gambrell Chambers of Hattiesburg said. "He believed in family and his faith.”

Fair is survived by his wife, Dr. Estella Galloway Fair of Hattiesburg; daughters, Dr. Melissa Fair Wellons of Nashville and Julia Fair Myrick of Bainbridge Island, Washington; brother, George Fair of Jackson; and four grandchildren.