Judge Daniel Thomas Tillman died July 23, 2014 at the Life Care Centers of America nursing facility in St. Louis from complications of Alzheimer’s disease, his family said. He was 86 and a longtime resident of the Central West End.
He grew up in North Carolina, never planning on living in St. Louis. After graduating in 1954 from Georgetown University School of Law, in only the second class to accept African-Americans, he returned to North Carolina, studied for the bar exam and passed.
When he showed up before the justice of the peace to be sworn in, he said the judge looked him in the eye and said: “What can I do for you, boy?”
That’s when Judge Tillman decided he didn’t want to be part of the legal system in North Carolina. A friend suggested St. Louis. He moved here, with no job, place to live or friends. He stayed at the old YMCA for African-Americans on Pine Street and took a job teaching at a business school. On the side, he prepared taxes.
After passing the Missouri Bar, he shared a law office with Robert Witherspoon, who later was named to the Board of Police Commissioners. He got a job as an assistant circuit attorney. He became a friend of Frederick Weathers, the “dean of black politics,” who helped introduce him to the right politicians.
In 1970, Gov. Warren E. Hearnes named Judge Tillman to the bench on the St. Louis Circuit Court. There were relatively few black judges at the time. He was a contemporary of two prominent African-American federal judges here — Theodore McMillian and Clyde Cahill.
In 1978, Judge Tillman sentenced a man to 150 years for beating to death Johnnie Bruegge the year before. Witnesses said the man had been trying to potty-train the boy and break him of the habit of sleeping in his mother’s bed.
Years later, he was surprised to learn that the defendant was released after serving just 28 years of his sentence. (He was later sent back to prison on an unrelated charge.)
Judge Tillman retired in 1997 after 27 years on the bench. He was president of the Missouri Trial Judges Association and served on the boards of the Urban League and Harris-Stowe State University.
Survivors, in addition to his wife of 57 years, Dr. Mary A.T. Tillman, include a daughter, Dana Chee of Maplewood, N.J.; a son, Dr. Daniel T. Tillman Jr. of Scottsdale, Ariz.; a brother, Dr. Otis E. Tillman of High Point, N.C.; and three grandchildren.
