Tom Glaze

Tom Glaze, a retired justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, died March 30, 2012 at home in North Little Rock, surrounded by family. Justice Glaze served 22 years on the Supreme Court and had a key role in many of the court's landmark decisions during this time, including Lake View v. Huckabee, a decision which ordered an overhaul of Arkansas' system of financing public education. Previously, he was elected chancery judge in Pulaski and Perry Counties and then the Arkansas Court of Appeals. In all, he served 30 years on the bench. As a young lawyer, Glaze took on voting fraud during a 12-year fight to clean up elections in the State. His passion for honest elections was a lifelong cause, and he focused his final days' efforts on telling the story in his memoir, Waiting for the Cemetery Vote, which was published in 2011 by the University of Arkansas Press. In the book, he recounts his efforts, along with a band of women in Conway County, to stop voting fraud in the 1960's and 1970's in a number of counties where it is historically prevalent. Thomas A. Glaze was born January 14, 1938 in Joplin, Missouri, the son of Harry and Mamie Rose Guetterman Glaze. Tom excelled in all sports in high school, and he attended the University of Arkansas, where he was the catcher for the Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team. He graduated in 1960, and then attended the University of Arkansas Law School in Fayetteville. Upon receiving his law degree, he moved to Little Rock in 1964. As a young lawyer, he joined the Election Research Council, which was financed by Winthrop Rockefeller to look into election misconduct. The voting irregularities turned up by the Council were a significant story in the months leading up to the 1964 election and were instrumental in his success in cleaning up succeeding elections. Glaze was energized by the experience and stayed on to run the Council for a time in 1965. Then, he moved to Rockefeller's offices to organize his next race for governor in 1966. Later in 1966, Glaze worked as an adjudicator for the Veterans Administration and for the Legal Aid Bureau of Pulaski County, which provided legal assistance to those in need. In January 1967, Tom joined State Attorney General Joe Purcell, as deputy attorney general for special projects. Glaze began the attorney general's Consumer Protection Division. He also rewrote the state's election laws, and Purcell submitted the new code to the legislature in 1969. The legislature enacted major portions of this work. In 1970, Glaze resigned and returned to private law practice. He restored the old Election Research Council under the name The Election Laws (TEL) Institute. His intention was to promote understanding and firm implementation of the new election laws, but TEL's work gravitated to investigations, particularly in 1975, when a group of women in Conway County asked his help in stopping wholesale election misconduct in the machine county run for many years by Sheriff Marlin Hawkins. The battle would rage in and out of state and federal court for two years, ending with a federal court order to halt misconduct and to allow poll watchers in every precinct. As a result, the political machine collapsed in the 1976 and 1978 elections. A similar battle in Searcy County, including a federal consent order, ended the old practice of vote buying by both political parties. Glaze successfully ran for chancery judge in Pulaski County in 1978. He instituted the guardian ad-litem program for children, which would be adopted by the courts. In 1980, he won an election for the newly created Arkansas Court of Appeals. He served six years as judge of the Court of Appeals, and in 1986, he ran for and won an election to succeed the retiring George Rose Smith, the longest serving Supreme Court in the country, and who he held in great esteem. He would be re-elected twice in state-wide elections. While he was on the court, he taught family law from time tot time as an adjunct professor at the William H. Bowen School of Law at Little Rock. Throughout his lifetime, "Coach" Glaze coached many young baseball teams and players, and he always kept in close touch with Arkansas Razorback baseball. He loved baseball, and the young boys he coached were an inspiration to him. Parkinson's disease forced his retirement in September 2008, two years short of the end of his term. Upon his retirement, the other six justices adopted a per-curium order memorializing his career on the court. It said: "Justice Glaze is known by his colleagues in the legal community as a defender of those unable to protect themselves. A voice for children and families in need, he was an early proponent of foster-care reform in this state. Justice Glaze advocated for the establishment of full-fledged courts for children's issues and has long encouraged the appointment of attorneys ad litem to represent children. John F. Kennedy said, ‘Let the public service be a proud and lively career.' It has been so for Justice Tom Glaze. To analogize his legal career.' It has been so for Justice Tom Glaze. To analogize his legal career to the game of baseball, which has always been close to his heart, Tom Glaze pitched a ‘complete and perfect game.'" Survivors include his wife of almost 32 years, Phyllis Laser Glaze; two sons, Steve Glaze (Terri) of Washington, D.C., and Mike Glaze of North Little Rock; three daughters, Julie Glaze Houlihan (John) of Los Angeles, Amy Glaze of North Little Rock and Ashley Glaze Russell (Brett) of North Little Rock; eight grandchildren, Joshua Glaze, Jenna Glaze, Amanda Russell, Blake Russell, Jack Houlihan, Declan Houlihan, Shaun Houlihan and Ethan Thomas Glaze; two surviving brothers, Colonel USAF (Retired) Harry Glaze of Sarasota, Florida, and Dick Glaze of Joplin, Missouri; his aunt, Alice Dubois lives in Joplin. He was preceded in death by brother Larry Glaze. Tom and Phyllis included in their extended family Karen Austin of South Australia and Mary Michaels of Little Rock. The family wishes to express gratitude to his neurologist Dr. Mike Chesser, and his dedicated caregivers, Cassondra Sneed and Mary Buckley. Tom Glaze was a generous and compassionate man who always put his family first, and spent his entire life protecting the underdog and serving his community. Visitation will be held on Monday, April 2, 2012, from 5 until 7 p.m. at Roller-Chenal Funeral Home, (501) 224-8300, 13801 Chenal Parkway, Little Rock, Arkansas 72211. Funeral services will be on Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at 2 p.m. at St. James United Methodist Church, 321 Pleasant Valley Drive, Little Rock. Pallbearers are Ernie Dumas, Richard Mays, Jack Holt, Jim Wallace, David Bogard, Alvin Laser, John Houlihan, and Brett Russell. Honorary pallbearers are past and present justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court. Online guestbook: www.rollerfuneralhomes.com/chenal.