In Memoriam: The Honorable Frank William Bullock, Jr.

The Honorable Frank William Bullock, Jr.

November 3, 1938 – August 13, 2026

The Honorable Frank William Bullock, Jr. passed away at home in Greensboro, North Carolina on August 13, 2026. Born November 3, 1938 in Oxford, North Carolina, he was the only child of Frank William Bullock, Sr. and Wilma Jackson Long Bullock. Judge Bullock was cherished by those who knew him as a loving and devoted husband, father, grandfather, and man of faith. He exemplified quiet wisdom and humility, and will be missed by all who had the privilege and pleasure of knowing him.

Judge Bullock was educated in the Oxford, North Carolina public school system. In 1957, he graduated from Oxford High School, where he won numerous academic and athletic honors. Thereafter he attended Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He earned degrees from the Kenan Flagler School of Business and the UNC School of Law, where he was on the Board of Editors of the North Carolina Law Review and was Vice-President and Salutatorian of his graduating class
in 1963.

Following a one-year appointment as a law clerk for the Honorable Algernon Lee Butler of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, he joined the Raleigh law firm of Maupin, Taylor, and Ellis, P.A. In 1968, he was appointed Assistant Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts of North Carolina and Administrative Assistant to the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. He resigned from these positions in 1973 and joined the Douglas Ravenel law firm in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he engaged primarily in federal appellate practice. During this time, Judge Bullock was active in the N.C. Bar Association and was one of the founders of the section on labor and employment law.

In 1982, he was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to be a federal judge with the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. He was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate. At that time, he was the youngest federal judge in the country. Judge Bullock joined the bench during the heyday of the Colombian drug cartels and tried a number of high-profile South Florida drug conspiracy cases. Later, he gained nationwide notoriety as a result of his free-market decisions in a number of civil antitrust cases, including the landmark Brook Group antitrust case, which was affirmed by the United States Supreme Court. Judge Bullock had three significant civil rulings affirmed by the United States Supreme Court during his tenure. From 1996 to 2003, Judge Bullock served as Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s appointee to the Standing Rules Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. He served as chief judge from 1992 to 1999 and assumed senior status in 2005. Judge Bullock frequently sat by designation on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, where he authored opinions in a wide variety of cases. He retired from the bench in 2006 and joined Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, LLP as a partner. Judge Bullock left Womble Carlyle to hang his own shingle as an arbitrator and mediator. He worked until he was 86 years old.

Judge Bullock was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, the Greensboro Sports Council, and the Society of Colonial Wars.

Judge Bullock is survived by his loving wife of 43 years, Frances Haywood Bullock, his son, Frank William Bullock, III, his daughter-in-law, Lace Wayman Bullock, and his adored grandson, Frank William Bullock, IV