Aaron Francis Tatum

Aaron Francis Tatum of Memphis, born January 20, 1951 to Judge F. Lloyd and Inadene Rogers Tatum, passed away on July 30 2025 in Memphis. He was 74 years of age.

Aaron was an author, a devoted husband and a beloved friend and family member with a great sense of humor. His interests involved writing, making music, history and current affairs. He had a long career in the insurance business.

Aaron was former President of the Shakespeare Oxford Society (now Shakespeare Fellowship) of N. America and member of the De Vere Society in the U.K. He wrote a weekly column called “A.F.T.erthoughts” that had been published in several W. Tennessee weeklies for many years and was published in Memphis magazine. He wrote short stories for the Dallas-Ft. Worth Press Service and Commercial Appeal. He helped write and assemble the Final Report to then Governor Lamar Alexander for the 1979 Memphis Jobs Conference and wrote the application for the Memphis Foreign Trade Zone. He authored one novel, “Shakespeare’s Secrets”.

He was a member of the Nashville Musicians Union and was stand-in for Joe Don Baker in the movie “Walking Tall”. He has written ad script for television. He once headed the Giant Rats of Sumatra, the Sherlock Holmes club of Memphis. He holds a B.A. from the University of Tennessee and an M.P.A. from the University of Colorado.

The family will receive friends from noon until 2:00 PM at Brent Taylor Funeral Home, 534 West Poplar Avenue, Collierville, Tennessee on Sunday August 3, 2025. Followed by a brief internment at the Henderson City Cemetery in Henderson, Tennessee at 4:00 PM.

He was preceded in death by his wife Maria ReichelTatum, his sister Janice Tatum, his mother Inadene Rogers Tatum and his father, Judge F. Lloyd Tatum.

Aaron is survived by three siblings, Suzanne Loo (Wade) of Powder Springs, Georgia, Lloyd R. Tatum (Lynn) of Henderson, Tennessee and Tim Tatum (Sharon) of New Kent, Virginia, and seven nieces and nephews as well as one great niece. The family would also like to recognize his friend Sharetta Hall and her sons Matthew and Logan.

The family will receive friends from noon until 2:00 PM at Brent Taylor Funeral Directors, 534 West Poplar Avenue, Collierville, Tennessee on Sunday August 3, 2025. Followed by a brief interment at the Henderson City Cemetery in Henderson, Tennessee at 4:00 PM.