Chervis Isom
Hewlett Chervis Isom Jr (born c. 1938 in Franklin County; died May 18, 2023) was a real estate attorney.
Isom's family moved to Birmingham's Norwood neighborhood while he was a boy and he attended Norwood School and delivered The Birmingham News and Birmingham Post-Herald on his bicycle.
He graduated from Phillips High School in 1957 and earned his bachelor's degree in English and philosophy from Birmingham-Southern College in 1962. He went on to graduate with honors from the Cumberland School of Law in 1967 and was admitted to the Alabama State Bar that same year.
Isom accepted a position with the firm of Berkowitz, Lefkovits, Vann, Patrick & Smith and rose to become chair of its real estate practice group. That firm was acquired by Memphis, Tennessee-based Baker Donelson in 2003 and he took on the role of senior counsel for its Birmingham office.
Isom has served on the Norton Board of Advisors at Birmingham-Southern as well as on the boards of the Norwood Resource Center, the Legal Aid Society of Birmingham, the Birmingham Arts Journal, the Alabama Writers' Forum, and Four Spirits Inc..
Isom's 2013 memoir The Newspaper Boy recounts his youth and education against the backdrop of the Cold War and Birmingham's Civil Rights Movement. Isom and his wife, Martha, moved back to Norwood while he was working on that book.
Isom died during an overseas vacation with family in May 2023.
References
- Kelly, Mark (February 12, 2014) "The Newspaper Boy." Weld for Birmingham
- Bryant, Joseph (May 19, 2023) "Chervis Isom, longtime Birmingham civic leader, dies at 84." AL.com
External links
- H. Chervis Isom at bakerdonelson.com
- Chervis Isom - author profile at thenewspaperboy.net - accessed October 13, 2015