PETER G. DECKER JR. (1935 – 2012)
A Tribute, to “UNCLE PETE”
Peter G. Decker, Jr. was born in Norfolk and went to Maury High School. He studied at Old Dominion and the College of William & Mary, took his law degree at William & Mary’s Marshall-Wythe School of Law, and then practiced in this community for a career of more than fifty years. He opened the firm in 1961 on a straightforward premise — that being a lawyer is a helping profession — and it is still the standard the firm hires by.
He defended people charged with traffic offenses and crimes, and represented those injured by someone else’s negligence. He tried thousands of DUI and traffic cases in the Norfolk courts successfully, and was known and respected as one of the area’s finest lawyers.
His work as a lawyer was significant, but it was never the whole picture. Peter Decker’s instinct to be useful took him onto boards and committees at every level, local to national, and no account of his life would be complete without St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital: for more than thirty-five years he served on the hospital’s Board of Governors and Directors, was National Executive Vice President in charge of fundraising, and in 1999 was elevated to Director Emeritus.
He chaired the Virginia State Board of Corrections for seven years, completed a ten-year term as Chairman of the National Maritime Center at Nauticus, and chaired the Norfolk International Airport Authority. Governor Wilder appointed him to the State Board of Education. He was founding Chairman of Norfolk’s Business Improvement District and sat on the Norfolk board of TowneBank. The Cosmopolitan Club of Norfolk named him the city’s First Citizen — a distinction his son, Pete Decker III, would earn in his own right in 2025, making the Deckers one of only a handful of families to produce two since the award began in 1928.
“My personal objective is to help you attain your goals as quickly as possible, with limited legal exposure, and at an affordable price.”
DO YOU NEED HELP?
Most people who call us aren’t certain which of these areas their situation falls under — and working that out is our job, not yours. Tell us in a sentence or two what happened, and we’ll get you to the right attorney. Or call 757-622-3317 and talk it through now.