John W. Sloan, a retired partner in a Baltimore law firm who had also been active in veterans affairs for nearly 50 years, died Sunday of cancer at his home in the Winthrop House condominiums on North Charles Street.
He was 84.
Mr. Sloan, the son of a lawyer and homemaker, was born and raised in Cumberland. The day after graduating from Allegany High School in 1943, he enlisted in the Marine Corps.
He served with Air Warning Squadron No. 1 in the Pacific and participated in the Enewetok Atoll, Marshall Island, Okinawa, Le Shima and Toro Shima campaigns.
Discharged with the rank of staff sergeant in 1946, Mr. Sloan earned a bachelor's degree from Potomac State College of West Virginia University in Keyser, and graduated in 1951 from the University of Maryland School of Law.
That year, he and his law partner, James N. Phillips established the firm of Phillips & Sloan in an office on West Franklin Street and later moved to the Fidelity Building.
"Jack handled business and legal matters such as wills and trusts. He had a very matter-of-fact way about him but was very careful as an attorney and well-liked by the clients," said Mr. Phillips.
"He was a very decent man who had absolutely no prejudices. We represented a cross-section of the community, and he didn't care about a client's point of view, race or religious background," he said.
From 1953 to 1955, he was an assistant attorney general for Maryland, and in 1965 was appointed to a two-year term as a judge of the Maryland Tax Court by Gov. J. Millard Tawes.
Mr. Sloan retired from his law firm several years ago.
"We were together for 50 years and never had an argument," recalled Mr. Phillips. Mr. Sloan was long active in veterans affairs and was a lifetime member of Fort Cumberland Post No. 13 of the American Legion.
In 1957, he was elected Maryland commander of the American Legion and later served as department judge advocate of the American Legion in Maryland.
For 20 years, he served as a member of the National American Legion Constitution and By-Laws Commission.
He also served on the national advisory council of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. In 1967, he was presented a pen by President Lyndon B. Johnson that he had used to sign the Servicemen's Readjustment Act, which was changed to include Vietnam War veterans.
During the 1960 presidential campaign, Mr. Sloan was chairman of the Maryland Veterans for Nixon-Lodge.
