Jim Pressly was born on July 3, 1946 and died on August 15, 2004. After graduating from Christ School in Arden, North Carolina, he attended Vanderbilt University and received a B.A. degree in 1968; he then went to the University of South Carolina School of Law where he served on Law Review and received his J.D. in 1971. Upon graduation from law school, he became a clerk with the Honorable Clement Haynsworth, who was then Chief Judge for the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. He served two years and then commenced the practice of law with the firm of Haynsworth, Perry, Bryant, Marion and Johnstone, currently Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A., where he was practicing at the time of his death.
Mr. Pressly was admitted as a Fellow to the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1994 and was State Chair for South Carolina in 2002 and 2003. He practiced in the area of toxic torts and products liability for a period of over thirty years. He tried toxic tort cases in state and federal courts in approximately ten states and the Virgin Islands. He was a frequent lecturer on toxic tort issues for the Defense Research Institute.
Mr. Pressly was very supportive of education. Governor Riley appointed him to serve on the Teaching Incentive Pay Advisory Committee and Governor Campbell appointed him as a member of the Committee of Education Improvement. He was Chairman of the School Board of Christ Church Episcopal School in Greenville, South Carolina.
He is survived by his mother and his daughter, Mary Earle Pressly Garrison, M.D., and his son James Boyce Pressly Ⅲ. Mary Earle Pressly Garrison is a pediatrician in Concord, North Carolina and James Pressly Ⅲ is at the University of Virginia doing graduate work in architecture.