Edwin Hope Rayson

Edwin Hope Rayson, 93, died peacefully at his home on Saturday, January 7, 2017. He was born on January 13, 1923, at home in Earlville, Illinois. He was the eldest of the three children of Dr. Edwin Hope Rayson, Sr., a family physician to the local community, and Lillian Astley Rayson, a registered nurse. After graduating from Earlville Community High School in 1940, he attended Northwestern University for his freshman year. He transferred to the University of Tennessee - Knoxville as a sophomore to study medicine, entered the officer candidate program of the United States Navy and graduated with honors in 1944. He was a proud member of Sigma Chi fraternity. Upon graduation, he was commissioned an officer in the Navy where he served as a demolitions expert on Saipan and Okinawa. After being honorably discharged in 1946, he returned to the University of Tennessee and entered the College of Law. There he was a member of Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity and served as president. He was a member of Omicron Delta Kappa honor society, the Order of the Coif and graduated second in his class in 1948. He and his classmate, Andrew Johnson, formed the firm of Johnson & Rayson that year in Knoxville. That began a lifelong love of the practice of law. In March of 1949, he joined the firm Kramer, McNabb & Greenwood. He became a full partner in 1950 and the firm ultimately became known as Kramer Rayson, LLP. From 1951 through 1970, he was an adjunct professor at the UT College of Law, teaching labor and employment law. He practiced law avidly for 65 years until his retirement at age 90, including 50 years with his younger brother, John B. Rayson. It was said that he was one of the few lawyers who ever represented labor and management, arbitrated, and taught labor law on the same day. From the 1950’s through the 1970’s, he represented the United Mine Workers of America, including in their famous antitrust cases that repeatedly took him to the U.S. Supreme Court. He represented virtually every prime contractor of the Atomic Energy Commission and Department of Energy in Oak Ridge dating from the Manhattan Project, as well as clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to individuals. The many professional honors he earned during his career included the following: he was a founding Fellow of the Knoxville Bar Foundation and a Fellow of the Tennessee Bar Foundation; in 2001, he received the Governor’s Award of the Knoxville Bar Association, its most esteemed award; and he has been listed in every edition of The Best Lawyers in America since the publication began. He was admitted to practice before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and the United State Supreme Court. Mr. Rayson was a life-long and accomplished golfer. He began playing as a young boy on the local course that his father and others built in his home town. The first tee literally was in his back yard. He was a two-time senior club champion at Cherokee Country Club. He had several holes in one and shot his age every year for at least seven years. For over 30 years, he and his wife, Sherry, bred and showed purebred Arabian horses both in the United States and Canada, winning national honors. He is preceded in death by his parents, Dr. and Mrs. E.H. Rayson, Sr., his sister, Barbara, brother John B. Rayson, and grandson, Thomas Rayson. Ed is survived by his wife of 33 years, Sherry Kirkland Rayson, his daughter Jane Rayson Howard (Butch), his son E.H. “Ned” Rayson, III (Lilly), son Scott Rayson (Cary), grandchildren Matthew and Logan Young, J.D., Hope and Hunter Rayson, and George, Robin and Caroline Rayson, great grandchildren Hayes and Andie Young, his sister-in-law, Mary B. Rayson, nieces, nephews and cousins. There will be a memorial service for Mr. Rayson at the Central Baptist Church of Oak Ridge, 130 Providence Road, Oak Ridge, TN at 12:00 noon on Saturday, January 14. The family will receive friends at the fellowship hall at the church following the service. Honorary pallbearers include the members of Kramer Rayson, LLP and the members of the Coffee Club. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to Legal Aid of East Tennessee, 502 S. Gay St., Knoxville, TN 37902.

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Edwin Hope Rayson

January 13, 1923 - January 7, 2017