Ed Pittman dies at 89 after serving in all three branches of Mississippi government

RIDGELAND, Miss. (AP) — Edwin Lloyd “Ed” Pittman, who served in all three branches of Mississippi government before retiring as chief justice of the state Supreme Court, has died. He was 89.

Pittman died Wednesday at his home in the Jackson suburb of Ridgeland, according to the Mississippi Administrative Office of Courts.

Pittman represented the Hattiesburg area in the Mississippi Senate from 1964 to 1972. He was elected to three statewide offices, serving as treasurer from 1976 to 1980, secretary of state from 1980 to 1984 and attorney general from 1984 to 1988.

Pittman unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for governor in 1987. He joined the nine-member Mississippi Supreme Court in January 1989 and became chief justice in January 2001. He retired on March 31, 2004.

“Even though he served in all these important government positions, he never lost his common touch,” the current chief justice, Mike Randolph, said in a statement.

When Pittman was attorney general, he hired a young lawyer, James Graves, as an assistant attorney general. The two men later served together on the Mississippi Supreme Court, and Graves became a judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2011.

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