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Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr., grandson of 10th president, dead at 95

By Bob D'Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
By Bob D'Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

FRANKLIN, Tenn. — Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr., the grandson of the nation’s 10th president, died Sept. 26 in Franklin, Tennessee, according to his obituary. He was 95.

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Tyler’s grandfather, John Tyler, became the first vice president to ascend to the presidency when William Henry Harrison died on April 4, 1841. John Tyler annexed Texas as the 28th state, but until he became president he was the afterthought in the 1840 campaign slogan, “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” After becoming president, he was derisively referred to as “His Accidency.”

However, John Tyler’s insistence that, by law, he was allowed to wield full presidential powers paved the way for future vice presidents who succeeded Chief Executives who died in office.

Lyon Tyler’s daughter, Susan Selina Pope Tyler, said her father’s death was caused by Alzheimer’s disease, The New York Times reported.

John Tyler, who was born in 1790, was married twice and had 15 children before his death in January 1862. His son, Lyon Gardiner Tyler Sr., was born to the president’s second wife, Julia Gardiner Tyler, in 1853. John Tyler was 63.

Lyon Gardiner Tyler Sr., who died in 1935, was a longtime president of the College of William & Mary in Virginia, the Times reported. Lyon Gardiner Tyler Sr. was born Jan. 3, 1925, in Richmond, Virginia, to Susan Ruffin Tyler, when his father was 71. He was born 125 years after his grandfather.

Lyon Tyler Jr. was a lawyer and historian and is survived by his younger brother, 91-year-old Harrison Ruffin Tyler.

Lyon Tyler Jr. served as an officer in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II, Smithsonian Magazine reported. After the war, he joined the Naval Intelligence Reserves, according to his obituary. He later practiced law in Virginia, served as Charles City County’s commonwealth’s attorney and later taught at the Virginia Military Institute. He moved to Franklin in 2000.

Lyon Tyler Jr. was buried Oct. 3 at Westover Episcopal Church in Charles City, Virginia, according to his obituary. A memorial service will be held Tuesday in Franklin at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Franklin.


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