Members of Vicksburg’s legal and business community Friday remembered Landman Teller Jr. as a prominent attorney and civic leader in the community, who was known for his support and love of Vicksburg and his integrity as a person and attorney.

Teller died Friday. He was 74.

“They just don’t make them any better than Landy Teller,” longtime friend and former law partner Brother Blackburn said. “He was good to the core and a very, very loyal friend and a loyal person. Everybody loved Landy. He always had a smile on his face. I can’t ever remember Landy being in a bad mood. He was always happy and always that positive person that everybody loved to be around.”

“When you hear the Teller name, it’s always spoken with dignity,” businessman Charles Riles said. “He built his reputation on his integrity. A great legal mind is gone.”

Teller was a 1963 graduate of the University of Mississippi and received his law degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1965. He served as a captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps in the U.S. Army before returning to practice law in Vicksburg. He was a member of numerous community organizations, including the Vicksburg Rotary Club, YMCA Board of Trustees and Board of Directors and United Way of West Central Mississippi.

“He’s going to be sorely missed by his family and all of us at the law firm,” said State Sen. Briggs Hopson III, who was a partner in Teller’s firm, Teller Hassell & Hopson. “He was a great leader, he was a giant as a person and as a law partner. Landy’s an example by which all of us should live. He was kind, thoughtful, encouraging, friendly to everyone, fair, and just an outstanding person. It’s a tremendous loss.”

Blackburn, who practiced law with Teller from 1973 to ’76 before going into the automobile business, said Teller “was my closest and dearest friend.”

He said their friendship developed during their partnership.

“We worked together, played together, done it all,” he said.

“I’ve known Landy all my life,” he said. “After I got out of the law practice, I used him as my lawyer. I told him, ‘I quit practicing, now I’m going to use you.’ ”

Teller he said, “Had the highest integrity and was always going to do what was right, but a really, really good lawyer. Not only an intelligent lawyer, but he was going to be very detailed and made sure every thing was taken care of n the right way and the correct way.

“He was a great community person,” Blackburn said.

“He loved Vicksburg and he really did a lot of things for this community. He served in many capacities. He had done it all.”

Riles called Teller a very unique person “who was one of the most loving, generous and thoughtful people you would ever meet. He was just good all around guy and (as a lawyer) he would fight for people.”

Mark Buys, president of BancorpSouth’s Vicksburg system, said Teller always took an interest him and his career.

“He was a gentleman’s gentleman, and a man I looked up to and tried hard to be like him.”

Teller served as counsel for the city’s NRoute public transportation system, and helped guide it through some tough periods over the years, Buys said.

“He gave us great advice,” he said. “We leaned on him a lot, and he was always right.

“He is someone we’ll miss in the business community and he definitely had a love and heart for Vicksburg,” Buys said.

“He wanted to see Vicksburg rise to the top.”