George E. Chandler

George Edmond Chandler, B.A. ’60, J.D. ’62, respected attorney, devoted family man and lifelong Baylor Bear, died May 13 in Wimberley, TX. He was born Jan. 28, 1939, in Camden, TX, to Charles O’Hara Chandler, B.A. ’30, and Alma Sellars Chandler. An only child, he was raised among a crew of cousins he loved like siblings.

Chandler attended Baylor on a full tennis scholarship, where he met his wife, Martha Jane Reichert, B.A. ’61. He was a three-year letterman from 1957-59 and was voted a Baylor Outstanding Athlete in 1960. Chandler went on to Baylor Law School, serving as editor of the Baylor Law Review.

After graduating, Chandler began his legal career at Edwards and DeAnda in Corpus Christi, TX, and later worked for Burke and Leach in Diboll, TX. In 1972, he founded his own firm. He felt a calling to represent injured people and to stand up for those who had no voice. He often said that he felt guided and shaped by his favorite Bible verse, Matthew 25:40: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Chandler was elected president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association in 2002, an organization he had participated in since 1974. Additionally, he was a member of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, a diplomate of both the American Board of Trial Advocates and the National Board of Trial Advocacy and served on various committees of the State Bar of Texas. Honors include the TTLA Lifetime Achievement Award, the Texas Bar Foundation Ronald D. Secrest Award and Baylor Lawyer of the Year from Baylor Law School. In 2015, the Litigation Section of the State Bar of Texas inducted Chandler as a Texas Legal Legend.

Chandler was a longtime Sunday School teacher and trustee at First Baptist Church, Lufkin, and a passionate supporter of Baylor University.