THORNTON, Jr., Guerry
Guerry Radford Thornton, Jr. passed away unexpectedly October 27, 2023 in Atlanta, GA, at the age of 74. Born in Atlanta, Guerry grew up in several southeast cities including Birmingham AL, Columbia SC, Louisville KY, and back to Atlanta where he graduated high school from The Lovett School in 1968. Guerry enrolled in Sewanee the University of the South where he was a member of ATO fraternity and the "Order of The Gown" which was a club where gowns were worn by students as a badge of academic distinction. He also served in the town's voluntary fire department and worked several moths in Congress in Washington DC. After graduating with an English Degree in 1972 he returned to Atlanta to attend Emery Law School where he received his Juris Doctor Degree 1975.
Upon graduation Guerry moved to Savannah, GA, where he opened a law practice primarily representing personal injury cases. His first significant case came in 1980 when Guerry started working on the landmark Dalkon Shield product liability litigation. He moved back to Atlanta where he represented over 1,500 claimants from Georgia to Australia. As a world class litigator some of his other more notable cases were representing mass-tort plaintiffs in the GM X-Car litigation, the Dupont Plaza hotel fire in Puerto Rico and Atlanta's Peachtree office building fire.
Later in life he spent his time split between his Atlanta home and his mountain home located on the Soque River in Clarkesville, Georgia. He loved spending time fly fishing and enjoying river with his dog Ozzy.
Given all his accomplishments he was proudest of his two children Phillip and Millie. They were the apple of his eye and he worked hard at being the very best father one could have, and he succeeded.
Guerry was preceded in death by his parents, Guerry Radford Thornton, Sr. and Patricia Darden Thornton. He is survived by his two children, Phillip Guerry Thornton and Milena Patricia Thornton; his sisters, Nancy Baily and Lea Walker (Ralph); and their children Jacob Bailey, Anderson Bailey, Henry Walker and William Walker.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to World Vision organization myworldvision.org.
The family will hold a small celebration of life in the mountain house by Soque river in Clarkesville GA at a time to be announced later.
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