Bill C. Clifton's Obituary
Bill Clifton, age, 79, died at his home of heart failure on May 15, 2013. A prominent attorney in Memphis who was often in the newspaper and on television, he specialized in complicated criminal tax defense and had many celebrated cases over his career. His most famous case was defending Jerry Lee Lewis, the entertainer, for whom he achieved an acquittal in the l980’s. Bill was a graduate of Central High School in 1953. He married his high school sweetheart, Margie Sheffield, and joined the Army where he was selected for special training and served with the National Security Agency stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. Using the GI Bill, he returned home to graduate from Memphis State University and Southern Law School, attending law school at night while he worked during the day to support his family. He was briefly an attorney for the IRS and then became a partner in the Memphis law firm of Burch, Porter and Johnson. The celebrated lawyer Lucius Burch took a special interest in Bill and was his valued mentor. Subsequently he opened his own law firm which was highly successful until his retirement in the late 90’s. He spent the last ten years of his life traveling the world with his wife, Karen McCarthy, sailing up the Amazon and down the Danube, visiting such diverse corners of the world as Peru, Russia and Tahiti. A feature in the Travel Section of the Commercial Appeal recounted his and Karen’s adventures living in San Miguel, Mexico for a year in 2005. He is survived by his four children Amy Anderson, Charles Clifton, David Clifton and Joseph Clifton and eight grandchildren. Bill was known for his humor, wit and charm and will be missed by his family and the larger family of the Friends of Bill W. The family will hold a private memorial service by the ocean
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