Judge Arthur Faquin, Jr., 86, died at Baptist Memorial Hospital East on Tuesday, February 24 of an apparent heart attack. He had been in poor health for sometime. Born March 2, 1922, Faquin was a life long Memphian and attended public school in the city, graduating from Central High School in 1940. He attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville for two years, but in 1942 he volunteered for the Marine Corp, eventually rising to the rank of captain. Faquin served in the South Pacific where he took part in the invasions of Tinian and Saipan before serving with the occupation forces in Japan. After the war, he returned to Memphis and in 1947 married Frances Ann Exby who predeceased him. They were married for 55 years. He is survived by three sons: John Charles Faquin (Jane) and Joseph Sidney Faquin (Monica) of Memphis and Dr. Richard Arthur Faquin (Darlene) of Springfield, TN. He also leaves two sisters, Ann Faquin McGuire of Memphis and Ruth Faquin Torri of Hendersonville, TN, five grandchildren and two great- grandchildren. Judge Faquin had a long career with the Tennessee bar. He graduated from the University of Memphis law school in 1951 and for two years was in private practice with the firm of Evans Exby Moriarty and Petree before joining the Tennessee Attorney General's Office where he served for 11 years. In 1963 he was nominated to fill a vacancy on the bench of the Court of General Sessions for two years before a promotion to the Criminal Court Division where he served until his retirement in 1977. Although he rendered decisions in hundreds of cases while on the bench, two were particularly noteworthy: the Margot Freshwater murder case and his appointment in 1969 to handle the appeal for convicted assasin James Earl Ray after the death of Judge Preston Battle who tried the original case. After his retirement he became interested in local history and wrote one of both his family and the Midtown neighborhood where he grew up in the 1930's. Active with local Marine Corps retirees, Faquin wrote an extensive memoir of his experiences in the Pacific. He was an Eagle Scout, a Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the Shelby County Bar Association, and St. John's Episcopal Church. The visitation will be held 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m Thursday, February 26 at Memorial Park Funeral Home. A graveside service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, February 27 at Memorial Park Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to either St. John's Episcopal Church or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Memorial Park Funeral Home (901)767-8930 (Published in The Commercial Appeal on 2/25/2009)