Lee Akers
Former Clerk and Master Lee Akers has died at his Signal Mountain home after a battle with cancer. He was 80.
Born in Chattanooga on Oct. 20, 1943, he grew up in Chattanooga and later, Byron, Ga.
Mr. Akers earned his B.A. in 1966 at Berry College in Rome, Ga., where he met his future wife, Shorter College student Mercedes Lilia Vuksanovic. They married in Dam Neck, Va., on March 13, 1967.
Mr. Akers served on active duty in the Navy from 1966 to 1971. As an Operational Intelligence Officer, he retired in 1988 at the permanent rank of Lieutenant Commander.
He earned his J.D. from the University of Memphis in 1974. He also earned the title of Master Toastmaster with Toastmasters International, and as a member of the Jaycees, he taught extra-curricular public speaking in several Memphis high schools for which he was awarded the Jaycees honor of an Outstanding Young Man of America.
From 1978 to 1981, Mr. Akers served as Special Agent, FBI in the Tampa Division responsible for management of a full investigative case load. He also was legal advisor for the Orlando and Cocoa Beach offices responsible for legal instruction and compliance of approximately twenty special agents.
He had extensive litigation experience in tort law and major complex litigation in Federal Courts involving financial institution fidelity bonds.
In 1996, Mr. Akers was appointed Hamilton County Clerk & Master. He earned the degree of Certified Public Administrator from the University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service. He was named Outstanding State Court Clerk of 2004 by The County Officials Association of Tennessee. After 18 years as Clerk and Master, he retired in 2014.
Mr. Akers served on numerous Statutory Commissions and Committees for the Tennessee Supreme Court, the State Court Clerks’ Association, the County Officials Association, and the Chattanooga and Tennessee Bar Associations, including: President of the Chattanooga Bar Association; Judge Advocate for both the Tennessee State Court Clerks Association and the County Officials Association of Tennessee; nine years as a Commissioner on The Supreme Court Advisory Commission on the Rules of Practice and Procedure; fourteen years on the Tennessee Judicial Information Advisory Committee; and four years on the Tennessee Judicial Council Bench/Bar Committee. He also served more than seven years on the Commercial Panel, American Arbitration Association.
He was a Fellow of both the Chattanooga and the Tennessee Bar Foundations.
Mr. Akers was an avid SCUBA diver.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Shelby Russell Akers, Sr. and Helen Crumley Akers, and his sister-in-law, Sharon Holloman Akers.
He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Mercedes Vuksanovic Akers, children Bradford Lee Akers and Camby Leigh Akers, his favorite grandson Nikolas Jordan “Niko” Blanks, sister Virginia Lynn “Jennie” Akers, brother Shelby Russell Akers, Jr., special friends Vicki Luhowiak and Jon Cable, numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer and the Spacekind Foundation: Cosmic Odyssey Scholarship.
Mr. Akers will be interred at the Chattanooga National Cemetery, along with his parents and other family members Feb. 1at 10:30 a.m. followed by a reception that will be held at Baylor School from 12-2 p.m.
Arrangements are by Hamilton Funeral Home, 4506 Hixson Pike.