John died Sept. 5, 2013, at a Jackson, Miss., hospital after a period of declining health.

At Princeton, John majored in the Woodrow Wilson School and joined Quadrangle Club. His senior-year roommates were John Martinson, David Hinchman, and Richard Brown.

He graduated in 1960 from the University of Virginia Law School, where he was decisions editor of the law review. Since 1960, he had been a partner in Watkins Ludlam Winter & Stennis. The focus of his practice was legislative relations, public finance, and governmental law. While a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1969 to 1984, he was chair of the Banking and Judiciary committees and member of the Ways and Means and Water Resources committees. John served in the Mississippi Air National Guard for 30 years, retiring as a federally recognized general officer with the rank of brigadier general.

He broke with his father over civil rights, emerging as a champion of liberal legislation in the 1970s. In 1981 he helped introduce legislation requiring lobbyists to disclose money spent at the capital. At that time it failed. At all times he exhibited a brilliant legal mind and a farseeing vision.

John’s wife, Martha Allred Stennis, predeceased him. To his son, Hamp; daughter Laurin; and sister Margaret, the class sends condolences. This scion of the Old South will not be forgotten.

Undergraduate Class of 1957