John William Tissue

John William Tissue, age 88, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida; formerly of Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Baltimore, died on August 30, 2025, at his home in Vicar’s Landing. He was born on January 13, 1937, in Charleston WV, to the late William A. and Maitland Tissue (nee Cadden). He is survived by his beloved wife and law partner, Margaret Lynne Batzer Klopf, and his daughters Anne Ryan and Mary Miller Drews. He is survived by his sister, Annie T. Mrozinski, and his stepson John C. Klopf and family. His son, John W., Jr., and a stepdaughter, Margaret Klopf White, predeceased him. He is also survived by grandchildren and a great grandchild. John was a 1954 graduate of Bethel High School, Bethel Park, Pa., where he was a member of the marching and concert bands, the orchestra, Roger Farnsworth Dance Band, Key Club, Senior Class Play, and Pennsylvania Music Educators’ Western District Band. He was a devoted Mountaineer having earned an undergraduate degree in 1958 and a law degree in 1960 from West Virginia University, He established an endowed law scholarship at the WVU College of Law and was a member of the prestigious philanthropic Irvin Stewart Society and the Woodburn Circle Society of the WVU Foundation. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta social fraternity and Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity.

He was a member of two chancel choirs, first at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Upper St. Clair Twp., Pa., and later at Towson Presbyterian Church, Towson, Md., for over 25 years. At TPC, John also served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, a member of the Board of Deacons and an Elder. He was a former member of the University Club of Baltimore. He was a former Vice President of the Pittsburgh Alumni Club of Phi Delta Theta and past Upsilon Province President of that fraternity. John was a former member of Sawgrass Country Club for 35 years, where he served for eight years on the Legal & By-Laws Committee. He was President of the Lakeside Homeowners Association and a member of the board of the Players Club Homeowners Association in Ponte Vedra Beach at various times throughout the years of his residency there.

John began his legal career as an Estate Tax Examiner for the IRS Parkersburg District, Wheeling, WV office. In 1965, he joined the Office of the Chief Counsel, IRS, Philadelphia Region, Pittsburgh District office, where he served as a civil advisory and tax court trial attorney until early 1969. He then accepted a position as Tax Attorney with the law department of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company at its Cleveland headquarters. Later that year, he moved to Baltimore where he was primarily engaged in litigation for C&O and its principal subsidiary, The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. Those cases involved major issues, including landmark decisions that allowed the depreciation of railroad grading and tunnel bores in trials before the Tax Court of the United States and the United States Court of Claims at Washington, D.C., through the end of 1974. In January, 1975, John returned to the C&O/Chessie System Cleveland headquarters law department as a General Attorney, to serve as a principal advisor to the Senior Vice President, Labor Relations, and the Vice President,Tax, respectively. During the 1980s, he also litigated several other important railroad cases that involved both federal and state tax issues. He served as the principal legal advisor and draftsman for all employer pension plans of C&O, its subsidiaries, affiliates, and successors from 1974 to 1991. As a result of various corporate transactions, C&O, B&O, their subsidiaries and affiliated companies became operating entities of a new holding corporation, CSX Corporation. In 1986, John moved to Jacksonville, Florida, into the law department of the newly merged rail firm CSX Transportation, Inc., as Senior Counsel. In 1991, he transferred to the tax department of CSX Corporation, in Jacksonville, as senior Tax Counsel to engage in activities related to the parent company’s pending tax issues in protracted federal administrative and court proceedings.

John was admitted to practice law in the state courts of Florida, Maryland, Ohio, and West Virginia; the United States Tax Court, the United States Court of Claims, and the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. He was a member of the Transportation Industry Committee of the Tax Executives Institute and a member of an informal group of leading railroad tax lawyers. John stated that his favorite place to work was in courtrooms of the United States Tax Court, participating in trials with colleagues and judges. He recalled especially his experiences in cases tried before the late Howard A. Dawson and Theodore Tannenwald, Judges of the United States Tax Court. John retired in 1996, to pursue interests in golf, travel, reading, and family. He particularly enjoyed dancing with Lynne on most Friday evenings to the music of the late Murray Goff and his ensemble at Sawgrass Country Club. He was active in acting and directing play readings regularly with special friends in a group called Talent Limited for many years following his retirement. While residing at Vicars Landing John was moderator of the Investment Seminar, director of several play readings and Co-Chair with Lynne of the annual Christmas Boutique.

Any tax deductible memorial contributions are kindly requested to be made to the WVU Foundation, Endowed Law Scholarship Fund # 3Z064, One Waterfront Place, P.O. Box 1650, Morgantown, WV 26507-9939, with John’s deepest thanks. Forever a Mountaineer!