Thomas E. McCutchen, Jr. was born June 20, 1919, in Bishopville, to parents Thomas English McCutchen and Cornelia Lavender McCutchen. He received his A.B. degree from the University of South Carolina, Magna Cum Laude in 1940. He was admitted to the practice of law in 1941 by special examination after one year in law school. He received his LL.B degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1946. He was a member of Kappa Sigma Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Beta Kappa fraternities.
After graduation, he entered the Army Air Corps for pilot training and served for over four years, leaving the service as a major. From 1946 until 2012, he practiced law with a primary focus on civil litigation. He was special counsel for the State of SC in the boundary dispute of Georgia v. South Carolina and successfully argued that case before the Supreme Court of the United States.
Tom was a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, president of the Richland County Bar Association and a member of the Judicial Council of the Fourth Judicial Circuit. He was listed for 25 years in the “The Best Lawyers in America.” In 1977, he was recognized for his outstanding contribution to continuing legal education by the SC Trial Lawyers. He received the first Life Time Achievement Award presented by the Richland County Bar Association and received its John W. “Tootie” Williams Distinguished Service Award. In 1987, he received the Compleat Lawyer Award given by the University of South Carolina School of Law.
He was president of the Columbia Rotary Club and the SC Mental Health Association. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Mental Health; a member of the Forest Lake Club, The Palmetto Club, and deacon for First Presbyterian Church in Columbia.
Thomas E. McCutchen, Jr. died on January 15, 2018. He is survived by his children, Jane P. McFadden and Grace M. Stelling; six grandchildren, Barclay McFadden, IV, Thomas E. McFadden, IV, George McFadden, Anna M. Shuford, Grace P. Huddleston and John B. Daughtridge; and nine great-grandchildren, Wills McFadden, Millicent McFadden, Elizabeth McFadden, Thomas McFadden, Eva McFadden, Lily McFadden, Rebecca Shuford, Jane Shuford and David Shuford. He was predeceased by his son, Thomas E. McCutchen, III.