In memory of John T. Conners, Jr., a founding partner of the firm’s Nashville office, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP has established a scholarship for students graduating from Saint Henry School and attending Father Ryan High School. The firm will provide $10,000 a year for five years to fund the scholarship.
The first recipients, three graduating eighth graders from St. Henry’s, received their scholarships on March 28 during a school ceremony. At that time, representatives of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings also presented Mr. Conners’ family with the framed original resolution honoring him that was passed by the Tennessee Senate shortly after his death in 2009.
“We are blessed to have had John Conners as one of our founding fathers, and we are grateful for his legacy and spirit, which will always reside in the halls of our firm,” said Robert E. Wood, managing partner of the Nashville office. “Saint Henry Church was close to Mr. Conners’ heart, and we are happy to provide a gift in his memory to an institution that meant so much to him.”
A founding member of Saint Henry Catholic Church, Conners was a parishioner for more than 50 years.
“John was a much loved member of our parish and is missed by all who knew him,” said Father Michael O. Johnston, St. Henry’s pastor. “We are grateful to Bradley Arant Boult Cummings for their generous gift in John’s memory. It will support the further education of Saint Henry’s graduates.”
“The practice of law was my father’s passion. He was proud of Saint Henry and loved Father Ryan High School,” said Ginny Ripley, Conners’ daughter. “Never one to want public displays, he would nevertheless be quietly proud of this gift in his name from the firm he established to the church and school communities he supported.”
Conners was one of the four founding partners of Boult Cummings Conners & Berry, which became Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in 2009. He was a prominent litigator and known as one of Tennessee’s most preeminent plaintiffs’ lawyers. During his long career, Conners was responsible for securing millions of dollars in compensation for victims, including those affected by the 1978 Waverly train disaster and the 1980 fire at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Active in the community, he served on the associate board of directors of Saint Thomas Hospital and was an auxiliary member of the Daughters of Charity as well as the first president of the Middle Tennessee Medical Center.
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