Noted local judge, attorney, author and community preservationist William L. Norton Jr. died Sunday at age 93.

A memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church of Gainesville, 800 South Enota Drive, Gainesville.

Norton, born June 10, 1922, was son of the late W.L. Norton Sr., founder of the Gainesville insurance and real estate firm.

Norton was a 1940 Gainesville High School graduate who earned degrees from Oxford College at Emory, Emory University and Emory Law School. He also served as an officer in the Army during World War II.

In his early career, he served as a law clerk, trial attorney and worked with the U.S. Attorney General Tax Division in Washington and chief counsel for the Georgia Department of Revenue in Atlanta.

He began a private law practice in Gainesville in 1957, specializing in corporate and tax law, including work with the Georgia Poultry Federation.

“W.L. was such an amazing person, with so many accomplishments, that it is impossible to describe him in a few words,” said Abit Massey, longtime director and now president emeritus of the Poultry Federation. “The results of his effective leadership and outstanding service will continue to bring benefits for many years to come.

“I am grateful for his friendship and for the fact that, when he knew of the federation search for staff, he recommended me and so brought Kayanne and me to Gainesville.

“For the Georgia Poultry Federation, he was an outstanding attorney and adviser which helped substantially in the growth and expansion of the poultry industry. Among other things he tried and won several test cases on tax matters that helped improve the competitive position of the Georgia poultry industry.”

Norton later served as a bankruptcy judge for North Georgia from 1971 to 1986. He wrote a 13-volume work, “Norton Banktruptcy Law and Practice” along with other regular publications, and conducted national seminars on the topic. He also taught bankruptcy law at Emory.

He worked tirelessly in the community to preserve historic sites. Among his community efforts, he worked to preserve local sites such as the historic houses on Green Street, the Longstreet Society’s Piedmont Hotel, and the effort to preserve the historic Healan’s (Head’s) Mill in East Hall County.

“Head’s/Healan’s Mill, now being preserved and the site expanded, would not be there if it were not for his vision in saving and improving it, working personally and through the Historic Trust that he formed,” Massey said. “Historic Green Street would not be the same if not for his determined and persistent effort to save it. Later Christmas on Green Street, growing every year, was his creation. He was one of the leaders who saved General Longstreet’s Piedmont Hotel and helped it become a historic site, tourist attraction and meeting place. Appropriately his portrait hangs in the main room.”

He also helped create the The Richard B. Russell Building Special Collection Libraries in Athens, preserving the work of the late Georgia senator whom Norton came to know as a page in the Capitol in the late 1930s, and later while working with the U.S. attorney general’s office in the early 1950s. It also houses the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, 200,000 volumes of rare books and publications about Georgia and by Georgians, and is the home of the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, among many other notable historic records.

Norton is survived by his wife of 70 years, Adelaide Gregory Norton, two children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.