J. Clifton Barlow Jr. (“Cliff”) died on January 18, 2022, at age 89. He was born in Smithfield on Sept. 13, 1932, one of two children of J. Clifton Barlow Sr. and Oddie Munford Barlow.

Cliff is survived by his wife of 56 years, Jeanne Harris Barlow, of Dunwoody, Georgia; their daughter, Sherri Barlow Curtin and her husband, Tim Curtin, of Cumming, Georgia; two grandchildren, Breanna Curtin, Cumming, Georgia, and Tate Curtin, Charlotte, North Carolina; his sister, Nancy Barlow Edwards, of Smithfield; and his niece, Connie Edwards White, Amelia. He also had many in-laws and nieces and nephews in Atlanta and relatives in Virginia.

Cliff was a member of Smithfield Baptist Church for many years. He attended Smithfield High School and always enjoyed going home for the annual reunions. After graduating in 1950, he attended the University of Virginia, where he majored in accounting. Cliff received his Bachelor of Science degree in accounting in 1954 and worked as a staff accountant with the Norfolk CPA firm of Hilton, Sheffield and Hilton. He entered the Navy Officer Candidate School in January 1955 and received his commission as an ensign in May 1955. He then attended the Navy Supply Corps School in Athens, Georgia, for six months and was assigned to the USS Coral Sea, the Navy’s then-largest aircraft carrier and the flagship of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea. His last year of service in the Navy was at the Navy Department Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He attained the rank of lieutenant and was released from active duty in 1958. Cliff then returned to the University of Virginia to study law, where he served on the Virginia Law Review Editorial Board and received his J.D. (law) degree in 1961. Immediately thereafter, Cliff began his legal career in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was for many years a partner in the firm Hansell & Post. In the early 1960s, he was one of only three Georgia lawyers working in the area of condominium law and subsequently chaired the State Bar of Georgia Committee that researched and wrote the Georgia Condominium Act, the law that has governed all Georgia condominiums since its enactment in 1975.

Cliff was a member of the usual social, professional and honorary organizations including Sigma Chi, the Advocates Club (an organization of distinguished lawyers and judges, of which Cliff was a founding member) and the Capital City Club.

He had a zest for learning and enjoyed many hobbies: music, golf, boating, classic cars, history of the War Between the States and reading. He will be remembered for his dedication to the legal profession, his keen wit and sense of humor and his love of family and friends!

Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Monday, Feb. 7, 2022, at St. Jude the Apostle Catholic Church in Sandy Springs, Georgia, 30328.

If desired, donations may be made to Wounded Warriors, St. Jude’s Adoration Chapel or the charity of your choice.