Elizabethton Municipal Court judge TJ Little Jr. died Saturday afternoon, December 28, following a brief illness.

Little was an Elizabethton native who graduated from Hampton High School in 1970. He obtained his undergraduate from Milligan College in 1974, his Master’s from ETSU in 1977 and his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the University of Memphis in 1981. He joined the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of East Tennessee in 1982.

Little practiced law in Elizabethton most of his life, taking up his most recent post as a municipal court judge since 2007. He started practicing law at the Street-Banks-Merryman and Bautista office before opening his own private practice in 1986. He retired his private practice in 2015.

Funeral services are scheduled for Wednesday, January 1, at 7 p.m. in the Chapel of Peace of Tetrick Funeral Home in Elizabethton.