Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Leroy T. Canoles Jr.

Leroy T. “Buddy” Canoles Jr., a founding partner of Kaufman & Canoles, the largest law firm based in Hampton Roads, died March 17. He was 83.

A lifelong resident of Norfolk, Mr. Canoles was a certified public accountant in addition to being an attorney, and specialized in tax and corporate law.

He graduated from Maury High School in 1943 and served in the U.S. Army before graduating from the College of William & Mary and the University of Virginia law school.

He worked briefly for his father’s accounting firm and then as a sole practitioner before organizing the firm that
became Canoles, Mastracco, Martone, Barr & Russell.

The firm merged with Kaufman & Oberendorfer in 1982. It now has more than 120 lawyers.

William R. Van Buren III, the firm’s chairman, said, “Buddy was an outstanding leader and mentor. He was also a man with a great sense of humor and a zest for life. Buddy and other founders established a firm culture of collegiality, unselfishness, mutual respect and teamwork that has been a defining characteristic of Kaufman & Canoles since its inception.” Mr. Canoles retired from the firm in 2007.

Two other partners at the firm, Hunter W. Sims Jr. and Richard C. Mapp III, told The Virginian-Pilot that Mr. Canoles had a great ability to bring people together. “He didn’t try to dictate the outcome amid differing points of view,” Mapp recalled.

Mr. Canoles often spoke to the firm’s summer interns about the need for lawyers to maintain an internal compass and resist compromising their ethical standards, another partner, Patrick H. O’Donnell, told the newspaper.

The message was that “the firm expected its lawyers to build a reputation for honesty and integrity, and you knew he practiced law that way,” O’Donnell said.

Mr. Canoles was active in the Virginia State Bar, serving as term as chairman of the board of governors of its Business Law Section.

He was Fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation, the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, the American College of Tax Counsel and the American Bar Foundation.

He was a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond in the mid-1980s and served a term as its chairman.

Mr. Canoles was also active in civic and charitable organizations. He was trustee emeritus of Sentara Health Systems, chairman of the board of Sentara Alternative Delivery Systems, trustee of the Beazley Foundations, trustee of the Virginia Space Foundation and president of the Harbor Club.

Survivors include Marian Lewis-Jones Canoles, his wife of 59 years, four daughters and eight grandchildren.

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