John Randolph "Bunny" Tucker Jr. (June 29, 1914 – November 27, 2015) was an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

from 1950 to 1958, and later as a judge of the Circuit Court in Richmond.

Early and family life

John Randolph Tucker Jr. was born in Richmond, Virginia, to the former Mary Byrd Harrison (1884–1959) and John Randolph Tucker Sr. (1879–1954). His paternal grandfather was Henry St. George Tucker III, and Bunny Tucker would be the sixth generation of lawyers and judges in the family. Bunny Tucker attended the

Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...

, graduating in 1937. He later graduated from Washington and Lee Law School in 1948.

Career

Tucker enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1940 and served in Normandy, Northern France, the Rhineland, Ardennes and the Central European theaters during World War II. He led an Army tank crew which, among other European campaigns, liberated

Mons, Belgium Mons (; German and , ; Walloon language, Walloon and ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortifi ...

on September 2, 1944. After graduating, Tucker joined the law firm Tucker, Mays, Moore and Reed in Richmond, where his father was a partner. The firm changed to Mays, Valentine, Davenport & Moore and Tucker became a partner. He practiced corporate law there until his retirement in 1980. He served in the

from 1950 to 1958. He sponsored a bill that created the Richmond–Petersburg Turnpike Authority. The people called it "The Bunny Trail" after Tucker's nickname "Bunny". He was also a sponsor of legislation for mental health facility reform. He was judge of a criminal case Richmond Hustings Court, which became Richmond Circuit Court during his tenure. He served in that court from 1968 to 1980.

Personal life

Tucker married Helen Wilkinson. They had two sons, Carter Harrison and John Randoph III. His wife died in 1999. Tucker died of pneumonia on November 27, 2015, aged 101, at a retirement community in Richmond. He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tucker, J. Randolph Jr. 1914 births 2015 deaths Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates American men centenarians J. Randolph Tucker Jr. Politicians from Richmond, Virginia Washington and Lee University School of Law alumni Virginia Military Institute alumni American people of Bermudian descent Burials at Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia) 20th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly