Joseph Duane Gilliam, 87, died peacefully on Tuesday, October 9, 2018. Duane was born on October 22, 1930 in Thomasville, NC to the late Judge C.W. Gilliam and the late Pearl Metters Gilliam. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he graduated with honors from the School of Business Administration, majoring in Accounting, and was honored to be a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Beta Gamma Sigma.
He served in the Army during the Korean War and also earned his license as a Certified Public Accountant. After the Army, he returned to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a part-time lecturer in Accounting and to attend the School of Law. Duane was very proud of earning his Doctor of Law degree by serving on the Student Board of Editors of the North Carolina Law Review, where he published two leading articles.
He graduated at the top of his class and was a member of Order of the Coif. He was the 1956 and 1957 winner of American Trust Company’s Trust and Will Drafting Contest. Duane came to Fayetteville in 1957 to practice law with Tally, Tally and Brewer.
Coy Brewer, Sr. and Duane later formed a law firm and practiced together for several years until Brewer became a judge. Duane continued to practice law at his own firm for the next fifty years until he retired in 2017. He was a past president of the Cumberland County Bar, a founding board member of The Fayetteville Academy, a former member of the Board of Trustees of Cumberland County Hospital System, and a founding member of the Krewe de Caroline.
Duane loved education and broadening his knowledge, and he earned other licenses through the years including a General Contractor License, Charter Financial Consultant, Charter Life Underwriter and a NC Real Estate Broker License. Duane was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Patricia Tate Gilliam; his brother, Dr. Charles F. Gilliam; his brother, James “Jack” Gilliam; his sister, Blanche Lineberry; and his sister, Maxine Townsend. He is survived by his five children, Anne Scott Clement and her husband, Donald “Donny” III, of Salisbury, Mary Duane Hale and her husband, Charles, of Morehead City, Melene Hatcher and her husband, Ben, of Fayetteville, Murtis Worth and her husband, Walker, of Fayetteville, and Duane Gilliam, Jr. and his wife, Jan, of Fayetteville; eight grandchildren, Tyler Speir and Ruth Clement, Mary Charles Hale and Charles Hale III, Laura Anne Hatcher, and John “Jack” Keefe, Rebecca Keefe Kwasnick and her husband, Bill, and Walker Worth IV; one great granddaughter, Marlee Speir; a sister, Jean Gilliam DeGaetano, of Wilmington; a sister-in-law, Vicki Gilliam, of Thomasville; many beloved nieces and nephews; and his first wife and mother of his children, Betty Dan Gilliam Spencer, of Salisbury.
A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm on Friday, October 12, 2018, at St. John’s Episcopal Church, with The Rev. Robert Alves officiating. The family will receive friends following the service in the Kyle House.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to Cumberland Community Foundation or a charity of one’s choice.
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