Judge Tom Hunt Retires after 50 Years in Law, 9 as City Attorney Share

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The hon­or­able Judge Thomas R. Hunt will retire after a 50-year career prac­tic­ing law, nine years as the City of Marion’s attorney.

In 1973, the Mar­i­on native began prac­tic­ing law for a firm then known as Kiley, Osborn, spe­cial­iz­ing in insur­ance defense and busi­ness law. After sev­en years, the Gov­er­nor of Indi­ana asked Hunt to pre­side as Judge over Grant Cir­cuit Court. Hunt said he was 32 years old at the time. ​“It took me by sur­prise. But I talked with peo­ple I trust­ed, and they encour­aged me to take it on.” He served as the Grant Cir­cuit Judge for 27 years. ​“It was a won­der­ful expe­ri­ence. I got to be a part of shap­ing Grant Coun­ty law. I saw some very inter­est­ing cas­es.” After his tenure as Judge, he returned to the same law firm, but spe­cial­iz­ing in estate plan­ning and medi­a­tion. In 2015, he became Cor­po­rate Coun­sel for the City of Mar­i­on. Hunt want­ed to focus ful­ly on serv­ing Mar­i­on cit­i­zens, so he con­clud­ed his tenure with the firm. 

Hunt was in direct nego­ti­a­tions in what he named as out­go­ing may­or Jess Alumbaugh’s two biggest accom­plish­ments. ​“Two sum­mers ago, we worked with Gen­er­al Motors toward a long term deal for them to stay in Mar­i­on while also pro­tect­ing our tax struc­ture. Anoth­er big accom­plish­ment was win­ning the law suit involv­ing the old Y. When Alum­baugh cam­paigned, he had heard from many cit­i­zens to seek jus­tice. From the begin­ning, we exam­ined that project, and deter­mined to file suit. It was an ardu­ous jour­ney for us, but we pre­vailed.” A por­tion of the 3.4 mil­lion dol­lars right­ful­ly owed to the City has been paid, and the remain­der is expect­ed by the year’s end.

Hunt will offi­cial­ly retire at the end of the year. He first wants to enjoy life with­out a sched­ule. He will even­tu­al­ly start vol­un­teer­ing, but in the mean­time said he wants to spend time doing his favorite things such as fly fish­ing, read­ing, and trav­el­ing with his wife to places includ­ing Chica­go, IL, where their three grown chil­dren and nine grand­chil­dren live.

Hunt wish­es the new admin­is­tra­tion the best, and encour­ages more cit­i­zens to get involved. 

“At the end of the day, we’re all here to make this com­mu­ni­ty a bet­ter place to live and raise children.”