Thomas Christian Gordon, Jr. was born in Richmond, Va. the 14th of July of 1915. His parents were Thomas Christian Gordon and Ruth Nelson (Robins). He attended the University of Virginia receiving his B.A. in 1936 and his L. L. B from the Law School in 1938. Gordon was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1937. From 1938-1940 was an associate for the Richmond law firm of Parrish, Butcher & Parrish; from 1940-1965 and 1972 - 1983 became associate and partner of the law firm of McGuire, Woods and Battle where his specialty was business law, and was president of the Virginia Bar Association from 1963-1964. In 1965 he was nominated as an associate justice of what is now the Supreme Court of Virginia.
 
Justice Gordon was a lecturer at the University of Virginia Law School (1970-1972) and at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law (1979-1981). As a student at Virginia Law School he was part of the editorial board of the Virginia Law Review. He was trustee and president of the Crippled Childrens Hospital of Richmond. Served to maj. AUS, 1941-1945. He was part of the Fellow American Bar Foundation and member of the American Bar Association. He retired from the law in 1981 and pursued his love to paint, took lessons at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and became an accomplished artist. He died May 17th of 2003.