Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly
Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. died Sept. 26 in Franklin, Tennessee. He was 95.
A native of Richmond, Mr. Tyler was the grandson on John Tyler, the 10th American president.
His father, Lyon G. Tyler Sr., served as president of the College of William & Mary from 1888 to 1919. Mr. Tyler enrolled at W&M in 1941 at the age of 16. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He completed his undergraduate degree in 1947 and earned a law degree from the University of Virginia two years later.
After law school, he clerked for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals then entered private practice. He was elected commonwealth’s attorney for Charles City County.
In 1960, he became the assistant director of the Virginia Civil War Centennial Commission. That work led him to earn a doctorate in history from Duke University. He took a teaching position at Virginia Military Institute, where he re-designed the VMI Museum, then a job at The Citadel, where he taught for more than 20 years.
In 2000, he and his family moved to his wife’s family farm in Tennessee, where he was involved in a number of organizations, including St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church.
Lucy Jane Pope Tyler, his wife of 43 years, preceded him in death. Survivors include a daughter, Susan Selina Pope Tyler; a brother, Harrison Ruffin Tyler of Richmond; a niece, Julia Gardiner Tyler Samaniego of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; two nephews, Harrison Ruffin Tyler Jr. of Alexandria andWilliam Bouknight Tyler of Richmond; and eight great-nieces and nephews.
