ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 2, 1996 TAG: 9611040069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN SNIDER STAFF WRITER
Alexander Harman, a senior justice of the Virginia Supreme Court who lived most of his life in Pulaski County, died Thursday in a North Carolina hospital. He was 75.
Harman served as a justice on the state's high court for 10 years, until he retired in 1979 because of vision problems. He remained a senior justice, which meant he could still sit on the court if needed, until his death.
In a 1980 interview with The Roanoke Times & World-News, Harman talked about what it meant to serve on the Supreme Court.
"I think it's a pretty frightening responsibility to realize that you're one of the judges of the court of last resort," he said. "The most troublesome case is the case that involves the ultimate penalty, which is death. Before the commonwealth takes the life of any person, any reasonable argument" should be heard.
Woody Lookabill, Pulaski County's Circuit Court clerk, was once Harman's clerk at the Supreme Court, and as a boy shined Harman's shoes at his father's barber shop.
Harman, who also was a Circuit Court judge in the county for five years, persuaded Lookabill to attend law school at Washington and Lee University, his alma mater, then welcomed him as a clerk.
"It was like a fourth year of law school, but a lot more enjoyable," Lookabill said. "He was just an outstanding jurist."
Harman was considered one of the best "facts men" on the high court, Lookabill said.
Because he never married, Harman treated his clerks like family, keeping in touch with them long after they worked for him.
His "children" practice law throughout Virginia and at least two have been appointed judges, including Roanoke General District Judge William Broadhurst.
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