Father of two and prominent Georgia lawyer drowns, reports say. ‘An enormous loss’
An Atlanta lawyer and father of two drowned over the weekend, Georgia officials say.
Page Pate, 55, died on St. Simons Island on Sunday, Sept. 11, Glynn County Coroner Marc Neu confirmed to McClatchy News.
Pate was swept out by a strong tide off Gould’s Inlet on Sunday evening, according to The Brunswick News. Members of Glynn County Fire-Rescue’s water rescue squad pulled Pate from the water and attempted CPR before transporting him to Southeast Georgia Health System’s Brunswick hospital. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Officials said one of Pate’s sons was with him in the water but made it back to shore, The Brunswick News reported.
Pate leaves behind his wife, Elizabeth, two sons, Chatham and Asher, his parents, Robert and Mary Elizabeth, and his younger brother, Lane.
For more than 25 years, Pate served as a trial attorney, working at several Atlanta law firms before starting Pate, Johnson & Church, where he was senior trial attorney, according to the firm’s website.
“Page Pate was many things to many people — a husband, a father, a son, a mentor, a colleague, a friend, and most prominently, a trial lawyer, one who poured himself into his practice and fought hard for his clients,” the firm said in a statement. “Above all, he was a true gentleman who embodied service and grace.”
Pate was also a founding member of the Georgia Innocence Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping wrongfully convicted individuals, according to the firm. His Twitter bio shows that he also worked as an analyst for WABE News and 11 Alive News.
Friends and colleagues shared tributes for Pate on Twitter after his death.
“Devastated to hear that my friend @pagepate died this weekend. He was brilliant, kind, professional — and could cross examine the hell out of a witness. Such a loss to his family & everyone who loved him,” Sen. Jen Jordan wrote in a Sept. 13 tweet.
The Georgia Innocence Project said it “is heartbroken at the passing of our dear friend, colleague, and board member Page Pate,” in a Sept. 13 tweet.
Outside of his legal work, Pate’s “happiest moments” were spent with his sons hiking on the West coast and watching NASCAR races, according to his firm’s statement.
“Page had an easy smile, an earnest laugh, and a great sense of humor. He was guided by his faith and his creator, but he had an open heart and an open mind to all,” his firm said. “Page’s passing is an enormous loss to his family, his friends, his community, and the entire legal profession.”
St. Simons Island is about 300 miles southeast of Atlanta.
67-year-old dad falls off his paddleboard and drowns in the Outer Banks, officials say
Boat capsizes in Delaware River, New York police say. Now a fisherman is missing
24-year-old swimmer vanishes while at lake with family on Labor Day, Texas sheriff says
