Richard Reynolds Florance, 1871-1945Richard Reynolds Florance, long a prominent member of the bar of the City of Richmond, died on Sunday, August 19, 1945, while attending a family reunion at Walkerton, in King and . Queen County. The end came suddenly from a heart attack.
Born July 13, 1871, in the Capital City of this Commonwealth, he was the son of the late William Edward and Mary Gardner Florance, and grandson of James H. Gardner, a leading citizen of Richmond of an older day, and Senior Warden of old Monumental Episcopal Church for many years.
Young Mr. Florance, after attending the local schools, studied law at old Richmond College, where his fertile and resourceful brain was first imbued with the principles of the common law and the doctrines of equity. After graduation, he began the pratice [sic] of his chosen profession in association with the late George P. Haw, one of the leading lights of the brilliant bar of the City of Richmond of an earlier day.
Richly endowed by nature with a keen, analytical mind that delighted in unraveling complicated legal problems, and possessing in unusual degree the qualities of perseverance, tenacity, and unfailing courage, Richard Reynolds Florance built up a sound and lucrative practice. His advice, being based on a profound knowledge of the law, coupled with clarity of judgment and great common sense, was sound and always left the impression on his clients that their problems were in capable hands. No lawyer worked more assiduously’ on behalf of a client, yet never overstepped· the bounds of propriety; no lawyer ever battled with more tenacity for what he conceived to be the right, yet ever observed the highest respect for those high moral principles that the legal profession has embodied in its canons of ethics-for he was at heart one of those great fighters who strive mightily till the end, but always guided and supported by the highest ideals of honor, and with an inborn courtesy that left no unhealing wounds. His was a character manly and bold, yet withal gracious and kindly.
In later years Mr. Florance formed a partnership with his two sons Richard Reynolds Florance, Jr., and William Walker Florance: who survive him and carry on the Florance tradition. This partnership with his sons was undoubtedly a source of tremendous gratification to the elder Florance, for he was one of those characters, now, alas, too rare, who made that supremest [sic] contribution to society-to have left sons and daughters worthy not only to carry on but to improve the traditions of the race. For Florance, the elder, level-headed, sound, indefatigable lawyer, was above all else a family man, a devoted husband, a strict but loving father, who had the rare wisdom to grow into brotherhood with his sons.
Surviving are his widow, Mrs. Juliet Walker Florance, of an old King and Queen County family; two daughters, Mrs. Temple W. Broaddus and Miss Juliet Harrison Florance; his sons; also by one brother, James Gardner Florance; one sister, Mrs. Mary Florance Graham of New York, and by five grandchildren.
Gone is the warrior, but the memory of his resourcefulness, his tenacity of purpose, his perseverance, and his love of family remain to enrich the lives of all who were privileged to know Richard Reynolds Florance.
Charles E. A. Knight
(from “Proceedings of the Fifty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the Virginia State Bar Association”, Sept 16, 17 & 18, 1946, Richmond Press, Inc., 1946)