Ed Pittman has died at 89. He served in all three branches of Mississippi government before retiring as chief justice of the state Supreme Court. The state court system says Pittman died Wednesday at his home in Ridgeland. Pittman represented the Hattiesburg area in the Mississippi Senate from 1964 to 1972.
RIDGELAND, Miss. — Edwin Lloyd “Ed” Pittman, who served in all three branches of Mississippi government before retiring as chief justice of the state Supreme Court, has died. He was 89.
Pittman unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for governor in 1987. He joined the nine-member Mississippi Supreme Court in January 1989 and became chief justice in January 2001. He retired on March 31, 2004. Bill Waller Jr., who served 10 years as Mississippi’s chief justice before retiring in 2018, said Pittman provided “exemplary leadership” to the judicial system.
Mississippi trial and appellate courts also started allowing news photographers and videographers into courtrooms in 2003, after Pittman formed a committee to study best practices when only a few states allowed cameras in the courts. “We have to recognize the fact that we in many communities are frankly failing to get legal services to the people who need it,” Pittman said at that meeting. “It’s time that the courts help shoulder the burden of rendering legal services to the needy in Mississippi.”
Hattiesburg General News Obituaries MS State Wire Mississippi State Government N Courts U.S. News Bill Waller Jim Graves Politics P U.S. News
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