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Jenkins remembered for service, stellar law career
Prominent Huntington attorney and civic leader John ÒJackÓ Jenkins Jr. died Friday, July 4, 2008, at the age of 83.
Purchase this photoHUNTINGTON -- Prominent Huntington attorney and civic leader John E. "Jack" Jenkins Jr. died Friday at the age of 83.
Jenkins was remembered not only for a distinguished legal and business career, but also for service with numerous boards and charities in Huntington.
"What you saw (in public) was just the tip of the iceberg," said Henry Kayes, a partner for 35 years in Jenkins' law firm, Jenkins Fenstermaker.
Kayes said when he saw a need in the community, Jenkins "stepped up to the plate" to fill that spot. "He wasn't the type to talk about it."
Family friend Randall Atkins said Jenkins was a man who was happy to work behind the scenes.
"Few people saw what he did, but many people felt what he did," Atkins said.
The death of Jenkins is leaving a hole in many lives and the community.
"I will miss his friendship, his judgment and his charm," Atkins said.
Kayes said Jenkins practiced law not as a job, but as a calling.
"He taught me that taking a case was taking an honorable engagement, and to treat each person as if it were the only case you have," Kayes said.
Jenkins handled financial cases involving hundreds of millions of dollars in New York, Los Angeles and Washington and made three appearances before the U.S. Supreme Court, Kayes said.
He also performed legal work for Ashland Oil as it grew as a global entity during the 1960s and 1970s, under the leadership of Jenkins' childhood friend, Orin Atkins.
Randall Atkins said his father and Jenkins had a special bond.
Jenkins wrote the eulogy for Orin Atkins' funeral last year, recalling their years growing up together in Huntington and operating a pop stand as children. But Jenkins said they missed their entrepreneurial dreams because "we rapidly drank up most of the profits."
"They had a friendship that lasted a lifetime," Atkins recalled.
In May 2002, the West Virginia University College of Law awarded Jenkins the Justicia Officium Award, one of the college's highest honors, for his contributions and service to the legal profession. Jenkins also taught courses at the College of Law for 15 years and was honored for that service by the university in 2005. He also was recognized in the 1990s as one of the "Best Lawyers in America."
"I tell young attorneys at our firm I could learn more in 10 minutes from Jack Jenkins than from 10 days in a law library," Kayes said.
A native of Huntington, Jenkins received both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia and was admitted to the West Virginia State Bar in 1950.
In Huntington, he served with many community organizations, including the Foundation for the Tri-State Community, the Huntington Foundation, the Greater Tri-State Development Corp., Cabell-Wayne Heart Association, Cammack Children's Center, Huntington Community Players, Fire Department Civil Service Commission, Huntington Clinical Foundation, Huntington Kiwanis Club, Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington YMCA, Marshall Artist Series, St. Mary's Hospital and the United Way.
Longtime friend John Speer said he'll miss the daily breakfast meetings with Jenkins. The two met for the day's early meal for 30 years, first at the Uptowner Inn. When that establishment closed they moved on to Thabit's restaurant, and when it closed, they began meeting at the Mini-Lunch.
"We solved the world's problems," Speer said. That included topics of local and global importance, which also lent itself to local sporting events.
"I saw him at (St. Mary's Medical Center) Thursday and told him I was out to shoot my age on the golf course for my birthday the day before," Speer said. "I told Jack I'd have to get two years older or shave two strokes off my game."
Keenly devoted to his college, Jenkins was proud to be a graduate of UVA, have a son who graduated there also, and now have a grandchild in attendance, Kayes said.
He also noted it ironic that a man so dedicated to UVA would also share his day of death with the school's founder, Thomas Jefferson, who died on July 4, 1826.
Klingel Carpenter Mortuary in Huntington, is handling arrangements for Jenkins' family.
