Dead Celebrity Alert

U.S. District Court Senior Judge Jack Tanner — known for his sometimes controversial decisions, his civil rights activism and his outspoken belief that the courts ought to be a place where people of any color, gender or class could find a measure of justice and equality — died peacefully at his home with family Tuesday night.

He was 86. …

In 1989 he became eligible to retire from the bench but when he heard that he would not be replaced by another African-American vowed to remain on it “until rigor mortis set in.” …

Tanner, who marched in Mississippi during the civil rights movement, was involved in the NAACP and worked on Senator Henry M. Jackson’s presidential campaign, didn’t believe people should be treated differently, paid differently or given different opportunities on the basis of their race, gender or class… Read full obituary

Filed under Government/Politics