James Patrick Guy II, Esq., K.M., died surrounded by his family on January 21, 2026. Jim served as President of the Energy Bar Association’s Southern Chapter from 2024-2025.
EBA President, Floyd Self announced Jim’s passing in EBA’s Monday Memos e-newsletter. “It is with great sadness and loss that I announce the passing of our friend, Board Director, and Past Chapter President, Jim Guy. Jim enthusiastically supported the growth of our Chapter through his long time role as a Chapter Board Director and his most recent service as our Chapter President last year. Our most recent annual meeting, in Richmond, VA, in March, was our largest and most successful Chapter meeting ever, due in part, to Jim’s leadership. For our members who worked with Jim, whether on the same or opposite sides, one thing was always true about Jim – his steadfast professionalism and friendly spirit.”
Fellow board members, friends and colleagues also shared their comments. (If you have comments to share, email them to administration@eba-net.org and we will add them to the blog.)
Kelli Cole, Southern Chapter Director and Past President:
“I truly enjoyed working with Jim on EBA matters over the years. He was a talented attorney, consummate professional, dear friend, and mentor. Jim made a point to reach out whenever he thought he could lend his talents and/or encouragement. Whether it be to ask for your assistance on something but then you found yourself having learned much more from him then you ever had to give in return, or simply in support with a kind note of thanks for a job well done, Jim effortlessly and patiently mentored all who knew him. When they say: ‘They don’t make ’em like that anymore,’ they are most certainly talking about this wonderful Southern gentleman lawyer.”
Jack Robb, Southern Chapter Director:
“Jim was a titan in the Virginia legal community, electric cooperative community, and in energy law. He helped may of us get our start and has been a wonderful mentor and friend.”
Cliona Robb, Chapter Director and Past Chapter President:
“Jim Guy is an energy lawyer I admired as a true friend and a worthy adversary. The last time I saw him in person was during the Southern Chapter’s Powering Connections lunch gathering in Richmond last November, and I am now so grateful to the Southern Chapter for that. Our guest speaker that day was Commissioner Sam Towell with the Virginia State Corporation Commission. Commissioner Towell spoke of the importance of bar associations for the development of collegial relationships and of young lawyers. This was a sentiment that Jim Guy embraced enthusiastically. I joined the energy bar somewhat late in my law career, and my early advancement was aided and abetted by Jim Guy’s ushering me into the administrative bar at the state level and then the national bar at the EBA level. Jim and I were never on the same side of an issue: he was an electric cooperative lawyer through and through, while I remained attached to representing ratepayers and competitive suppliers. But Jim made me realize the importance of establishing collegial relationships across the aisle, and bar associations were the perfect vehicle for that. About a month before the November 14 Powering Connections event in Richmond, I went out to dinner with representatives from one of my energy clients who had just come from a meeting with Jim. It was no surprise to me that we spent half the meal talking about what a charming person Jim was. He will be sorely missed: the energy bar has lost one of its best with his premature passing.”
The entire Southern Chapter family offers its condolences and prayers for peace to Jim’s family for a life of service.
Read Jim’s obituary here.
Memorial services are as follows:
The family will receive friends from 5 – 8 p.m. on Wednesday, January 28, 2026 at Bliley’s – Central, 3801 Augusta Ave., Richmond, Virginia 23230. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 1 p.m. on Thursday, January 29, 2026 St. Paul’s Catholic Church, 909 Rennie Ave, Richmond, Virginia 23227. Burial to follow at Mt. Calvary Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (cff.org) or the Friedrich’s Ataxia Research Association (curefa.org).