The following biographical sketch was compiled at the time of induction into the Academy in 1993 and was updated in 2002.

 

Thomas N. Carruthers is a partner, and former managing partner (1990-1995) of Bradley Arant Rose & White LLP, a law firm with offices in Birmingham, Huntsville, Jackson, Mississippi and Washington, DC. He specializes in mergers, acquisitions, estate planning and corporate taxation. He graduated from Princeton University (Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) magna cum laude in 1950 and Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal, in 1955.  In 2001, Mr. Carruthers was named Outstanding Lawyer of the Year by the Birmingham Bar Association.

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He has been Chairman of the Section of Taxation of the Alabama Bar Association, as well as Chairman of the Alabama Federal Tax Clinic. He was a Trustee of The American Tax Policy Institute, a Washington based tax think tank group, and a Trustee and Chairman of the Southern Federal Tax Institute. He is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel. He was appointed in 1991 by Governor Hunt as Chairman (1991-92) of the State of Alabama Tax Reform Task Force, and thereafter served as Executive Secretary (1992-93) of the State of Alabama Tax Reform Development Committee. He presently serves as Chairman of the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Constitutional Reform Task Force.

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He served as a member of Governor Fob James' Medicaid Task Force in 1997. He also serves on the Advisory Committee for the State School Superintendent. He is a member of the Alabama Academy of Honor, and has been its Chairman since 1999. He is a member of the Board of the Greater Birmingham Visioning Program (Region 2020). He is a member of the Birmingham Business Leadership Group. He is a member, and has been (1992-1993) President, of the Birmingham Rotary Club.

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He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Alabama Bar Foundation. He is a member of the American Law Institute and the Alabama Law Institute. He is a member of the Society of International Business Fellow and the International Law Association.  He is the Alabama Chairman of Princeton Annual Giving, and was given the Horton Medal by Princeton University in 1988 for his annual giving efforts. He has served as a member of the Executive Committee for Yale Law School, and is co-head of fund raising for his Yale class.

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He has served as adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Alabama School of Law, teaching in its Masters of Tax Program. He was the 1995 Practitioner-In-Residence at The University of Alabama Law School. He was Chairman of the Advisory Board of Trustees of Cumberland Law School. He is a member of the Farrah Law Society.

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He was (1994-2002) the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Birmingham Museum of Art where he continues to serve as a Trustee. In 1996-1997 he was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Children's Hospital of Birmingham and is a trustee and member of its Executive Committee. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

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He is a member of Leadership Birmingham, and was a program co-chair (1991-1992). He is a member of the 1992-93 Leadership Alabama class and was its President and Chairman, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees.

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He is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, and served as its Chairman from 1999-2002. He is a member of the Executive Advisory Committee of the Birmingham Boy Scout Council. He has been awarded the Silver Beaver Boy Scout Award and the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.

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He was awarded the Medal of Honor given by Birmingham Southern College for public service, and commendations from Jacksonville State University and the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. He was the 1997 Arthritis Foundation Humanitarian of the Year recipient. He received the L. Burton Barnes III Award for Public Service in 1998 from the Birmingham Bar Association. He received The Brotherhood & Sisterhood Award for Outstanding Community Service by the Alabama Region of the National Conference for Community and Justice in 2000.

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Mr. Carruthers attends St. Luke's Episcopal Church, and is a former member of its vestry. He is married to the former Dale Jones, and has three children and four grandchildren.

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