Georgia trial lawyer Tommy Malone of the Malone Law Office died Tuesday at his Palm Beach, Florida, home "after a long and courageous battle with cancer that he never quit fighting," his family said. He was 76.

An adversary once called him "the John Wayne of litigation." He represented families hurt by "preventable disasters" in hospitals, on the highway and in the air. He wasn't afraid of losing in court and in fact learned his best lessons from it, Malone himself had said.

"Heroes are forgotten, but legends never die," his son and law partner Rosser Adams "Adam" Malone said in a Facebook post. "Honorable, courageous, compassionate, loving, fair, and just with invincible determination—these words describe my hero, my daddy, a man whose time with us made a meaningful and legendary difference in so many lives. I'm grateful we got to do some of it together. May he Rest In Peace. I love you daddy."

Malone shared openly his diagnosis with stomach cancer in 2016. He underwent many rounds of chemotherapy while staying in his Palm Beach home under the care of his wife of 32 years, Deborah "Debbie" Blankinship Malone. "She's my Florence Nightingale," he said last year, noting he had gained weight during treatment, thanks to her attention and protein shakes. He said then he had extreme fatigue but still looked forward to dinner and a drink with her every evening.

He took encouragement by the stream of lawyers who flew down to visit him in Palm Beach during the past couple of years as his condition became well known. He was cheered by a biography of him published by Mercer University Press in 2018.

The title is "Tommy Malone, Trial Lawyer: And the Light Shone Through … The Guiding Hand Shaping One of America's Greatest Trial Lawyers." The author is Vincent Coppola, a former Newsweek reporter who has written five nonfiction books. The cost of publishing the book was underwritten by friends of Malone, according to a foreword by John Bell Jr. of Bell & Brigham in Augusta.

"There are some of us in life who are blessed with many friends, but we never know who will be there when we really, really need them," wrote Bell, who said he's had many dinners with Malone, but failed at every attempt to pick up the check. "I have never doubted that Tommy Malone is such a friend. The interviews by Vincent Coppola reveal how many others there are who feel the same way. Tommy has centered his life on what he can do for others, be they clients, friends, passing acquaintances, or worthwhile causes such as the Shepherd Center and Mercer University."

Malone was a past chairman of the Mercer University Board of Trustees and a longtime donor to the Shepherd Center, which treats people with spinal cord and brain injuries.

The book opens with four chapters on a relatively recent case in Malone's career which also was covered by the Daily Report: a medical malpractice lawsuit on behalf of the family of Tucker Sutton, who was severely brain-damaged in a difficult birth. Malone and his son and law partner, Adam Malone, tried the case twice in Cobb County Superior Court, in 2011 and 2014. Both times the jury deadlocked.

The first time, when he asked for a $50 million verdict, Malone went home with a mistrial and the disclosure by jurors that they weren't convinced a doctor and hospital were responsible for the baby's birth injuries. Malone called it an expensive focus group and said he'd retry it. (The book quotes the Daily Report's coverage of that trial).

The second time, the jury deadlocked again. But Malone refused to accept it. Moving between his clients and his opposing counsel on a cold January Saturday, he forged a deal to accept the jury's majority vote to trigger a previously negotiated high-low agreement. He said it was a creative solution he'd learned to use in California. Once Judge Kathryn Tanksley agreed and brought the jury in, they all learned that the 10-2 vote was in the Sutton family's favor. Malone and his wife, Debbie, walked out of the courthouse with the baby in his stroller and the parents—knowing they'd receive $2 million from the doctor's insurance company. They'd already received a settlement from the hospital.

Malone stayed in touch with Tucker Sutton's family. He told the Daily Report last year that the mom had produced a book herself about the case, which she titled, "Even Heroes Need a Hero." He said he was pleased that Coppola chose to start with Tucker Sutton and then move back to Malone's beginnings in his hometown of Albany. There, Malone worked with civil rights attorney and future Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Herbert Phipps representing people whom other white lawyers wouldn't help. He lost at first, learning hometown juries were unwilling to find fault with their own doctors. But when he teamed up with famed San Francisco plaintiffs lawyer Melvin Belli against a pharmaceutical company that made a drug that caused a young girl brain damage, everything changed.

Coppola's book jacket said its core question is, "how a great lawyer who comes to represent important causes emerges out of the racist, paternalistic, and self-perpetuating establishment of rural Georgia in the 1950s." Coppola described Malone as "a lawyer whose jury awards read like Mega-Millions lottery jackpots and whose lifestyle a handbook for the rich and famous."

Malone was tall and had a commanding but humble presence and a kind face. He was known for his ease in front of a jury, as well as his long list of multimillion-dollar verdicts. He secured far more high-dollar settlements than anyone knows, since many of those have been confidential. His lifestyle was well publicized: homes in Sandy Springs, Palm Beach and the Bahamas, as well as a boat for fishing and a plane for commuting.

But when Malone talked about his more-than-50-year career, he never focused on money. He talked about "making a difference in people's lives." He talked about notes and pictures he's received from clients who've been able to care for a loved one because of the compensation he secured. He talked about working to create "full justice for all members of society, not just rich people." And he talked about the unfair "separate but equal" system that he began working to dismantle as he started out in 1965 Albany.

His early clients were mostly African American or poor white litigants, and he teamed up with famed civil rights attorney C.B. King to work on personal injury cases. That embarrassed his father, a prosecutor-turned-judge. One day after the young Malone made a visit to King's office, his father called him to say he didn't want his son spotted in that part of town again. The son's response, he said, was, "Daddy, the time has come."

"I was part of the destruction of that culture," he said. "I was losing, but I was making inroads."

The big breakthrough came when he collaborated with Belli, known as the "King of Torts," who had lost a malpractice case in Albany against a well-regarded local doctor who had prescribed a drug for a young girl who had a known allergy to it and suffered brain damage. Working with Belli, he filed a federal lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company, which paid to settle without a trial.

"That's when my life changed," Malone said.

Malone was born on Nov. 2, 1942, in Albany to Judge Rosser Adams Malone and Petrona "Toni" Underwood Malone.

His earliest ambition was to be a rodeo cowboy, auctioneer, blacksmith or farrier. He had a horse named Trigger. But he said his mother persuaded him to become a lawyer instead by suggesting girls would like that more. After his education in the Dougherty County Public Schools, he went on to the University of Georgia from 1960 to 1963, and then Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University. He was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia Bar in 1965, a year before he graduated from law school.

"Tommy is remembered as a man who was larger than life, had an infectious smile, an incredible sense of humor, a fertile mind and integrity like no other," his family said in an obituary published by Kimbrell-Stern Funeral Directors of Albany. "His last days were spent as he had lived—captivating the many who flocked to visit him with his quick wit and unparalleled charm."

"Of his many accomplishments and successes, Tommy was most proud of marrying his life partner, Debbie, the love of his life, his soul mate, closest friend and companion," the obituary said. "Their chance encounter in a grocery store blossomed into one of the greatest love stories ever told. Tommy believed his success in his life and career would not have been possible without Debbie's love, understanding, and support. They spent 34 years adoring each other, and their love radiated to everyone around them."

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his two sons—Tommy Malone Jr. and Adam Malone—and four grandchildren: Maddie, Emilie, Rosser and Kennedy.

A small private service will be held in celebration of his life. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial gifts be made to the Malone Distinguished Chair in Trial Advocacy or the Judge Rosser Malone Scholarship at Mercer University, 1501 Mercer University Drive, Macon, GA 31207, https://www.mercer.edu/give/, or the Shepherd Center, 2020 Peachtree Road N.W., Atlanta, GA 30309, https://give.shepherd.org/charitable-giving.

"One of the best," Bill Bulloch said of Malone on the Kimbrell-Stern tribute website. "I'm better off for having known him, and I'm sure Heaven is excited to get him."