Samuel Black Sterrett (December 17, 1922 – September 8, 2013)[1] was a judge of the United States Tax Court from 1968 to 1988.
Sterrett was born in Washington, D.C., and received his early education at St. Albans School.[2] Later, he attended Amherst College in 1947 and the University of Virginia School of Law in 1950. He graduated from New York University School of Law with a Master of Laws in Taxation in 1959.[2] He was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1950 and the District of Columbia bar in 1951.[2]
Sterrett served in the Army in 1943 and the U.S. Merchant Marine from 1943 to 1946, where he graduated from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and sailed as a second mate in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.[2] Sterrett worked for the law firm of Alvord & Alvord from 1950 to 1955, as a special attorney in the New York office of the Internal Revenue Service from 1956 to 1960, and at Sullivan, Shea & Kenney from 1960 to 1968.[2]
Sterrett was a municipal consultant to the Office of the Vice President from 1966 to 1968.[2] He served on the Chevy Chase Village Board of Managers from 1970 to 1974, including as chairman from 1972 to 1974.[2]
Sterrett was appointed to the United States Tax Court on October 21, 1968, succeeding Judge J. Gregory Bruce, and was reappointed on May 21, 1970, for a term expiring on June 1, 1985.[2] [3] He serve as chief judge in 1985 and again in 1987.[1]
Sterrett married Jeane McBride, with whom he celebrated 64 years of marriage before his death, and with whom he had two daughters and a son.[1]
He died at his summer residence in Lake Placid, New York, at the age of 90.[1]