Berry Avant Edenfield (August 2, 1934 – May 9, 2015) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia The United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia (in case citations, S.D. Ga.) is a federal court in the Eleventh Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appe ...

Early years and education

Born in Bulloch County,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, Edenfield received a

Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...

from the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

in 1956 and a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

University of Georgia School of Law The University of Georgia School of Law (Georgia Law) is the law school of the University of Georgia, a Public university, public research university in Athens, Georgia. It was founded in 1859, making it one of the oldest American university law ...

in 1958. He was in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

Georgia National Guard The Georgia National Guard is the National Guard of the United States, National Guard of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, and consists of the Georgia Army National Guard and the Georgia Air National Guard. (The Georgia State Defe ...

from 1957 to 1963. He was in private practice in Statesboro, Georgia, from 1958 to 1978.

Legislative

Edenfield was elected to the

Georgia State Senate The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia. The Georgia State Senate and the lower house of the General Assembly, the Georgia House of Representatives, comprise the bicameral leg ...

, from Bulloch County, representing the 4th District in 1964. He took office in January 1965, serving with South Georgia State Senator, Jimmy Carter. Edenfield served one term, until January 1967.

Federal judicial service

On September 27, 1978, Edenfield was nominated by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Alexander Atkinson Lawrence Jr. Edenfield was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on October 10, 1978, and received his commission on October 11, 1978. He served as Chief Judge from 1990 to 1997, and assumed senior status on August 2, 2006, serving in that status until his death.

Death

Edenfield died May 9, 2015, aged 80, at Candler Hospital in

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

, Georgia, from metastatic lung cancer.Obituary
legacy.com; accessed May 9, 2015.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edenfield, Berry Avant

External links

1934 births 2015 deaths Deaths from lung cancer in Georgia (U.S. state) People from Bulloch County, Georgia People from Statesboro, Georgia Military personnel from Georgia (U.S. state) Democratic Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia United States district court judges appointed by Jimmy Carter United States Army soldiers University of Georgia alumni University of Georgia School of Law alumni Georgia National Guard personnel 20th-century members of the Georgia General Assembly