Passing of John E. Fuller shocks colleagues and community

Prominent attorney-at-law John E. Fuller died suddenly on Tuesday afternoon, September 28, shocking the legal fraternity, as well as hundreds of Antiguans and Barbudans on island and abroad.

He is suspected to have succumbed to a massive heart attack.

REAL News was told that Fuller was asleep for a good part of the afternoon, and when he awoke he reportedly complained to his wife that he felt a tightness in the chest.

She decided to transport him to the hospital; but before he could be placed in the vehicle, it is alleged that he collapsed.

Family members quickly administered CPR as Fuller was being driven to the medical facility. However, the doctors’ further efforts to revive him proved futile, and he was later pronounced dead.

One of his friends said Fuller, aged 75, underwent triple-bypass surgery about 10 years ago. She describes him as outspoken, knowledgeable of the law, funny, and a charismatic attorney.

Fellow attorneys Harold Lovell and Charlesworth Tabor say they are saddened by the passing of Fuller – both from the legal landscape and from national life.

Although in the past few years he made fewer and fewer courtroom appearances, Fuller is remembered by clients and jurors as a man who understood the seriousness of the law, but who could always find a word or joke to lighten the moment.

Shocked colleagues say the humour he brought to the table, especially during trials, will be missed. One lawyer recalls some of Fuller’s courtroom antics, saying that he got away with things no other attorney even dared to attempt.

“Court won’t be the same,” one woman, a repeat juror, tells REAL News sadly.

Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer recalls Fuller as “quite a robust character,” and another person, commenting on social media, describes him as “the blackest white man in Antigua.”

Another woman says she looks at Fuller’s life as one spent in celebration. “He was the prime example of ‘living out loud’ – extroverted and sociable,” she says, while her companion’s benediction is a simple “Rest in peace, Rude Boy.”

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