The Honorable W. Homer Drake Jr., United States Bankruptcy Court Judge from Newnan, was elected as only the 11th lifetime member of the Mercer University Board of Trustees at the governing body’s annual meeting on Nov. 22.
During Mercer’s nearly 200-year history, the University has had only a handful of trustees who have been designated as Life Trustees. The prerequisites state that a recipient must have served at least two terms on the Board of Trustees and be at least 70 years of age, as well as have been individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to the work of the University over an extended period of time.
Judge Drake graduated from Mercer’s College of Liberal Arts in 1954 and from its Walter F. George School of Law in 1956. He went on to become one of the nation’s leaders in the law of bankruptcy. He is a past president of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, and a former member of the Judicial Conference’s Committee on the Administration of the Bankruptcy System. He founded the Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute, which recognized his enormous contributions to bankruptcy law by establishing the Walter Homer Drake Professorship of Bankruptcy Law at Mercer’s law school.
On Nov. 22, he completed his third full, five-year term on the Mercer board, having joined it for the first time in 1996.
In nominating Judge Drake for election as a Life Trustee, Mercer President William D. Underwood praised his years of service to the institution.
“Along with his wonderful wife, Ruth, herself a Mercer graduate, Judge Drake has made many lasting contributions to the University. It is entirely fitting that he join the distinguished ranks of Mercer Life Trustees,” President Underwood said.
