Legal and Civil Rights Scholar Charles Ogletree Dead at 70
Illustrious Harvard Law professor and attorney Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., whose roster of clients ranged from Anita Hill to Tupac Shakur, died Friday at age 70. The famed civil rights attorney had been battling Alzheimer's disease.
His family shared that he passed away peacefully at his home in Maryland.
Harvard Law School Dean John F. Manning announced Ogletree's death with a statement shared with the Associated Press, “Charles was a tireless advocate for civil rights, equality, human dignity, and social justice,” Manning wrote. “He changed the world in so many ways, and he will be sorely missed in a world that very much needs him.”
He added, “His extraordinary contributions stretch from his work as a practicing attorney advancing civil rights, criminal defense, and equal justice to the change he brought to Harvard Law School as an impactful institution builder to his generous work as teacher and mentor who showed our students how law can be an instrument for change."
Ogletree represented Hill in 1991 when she testified that Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her during the future Supreme Court justice's confirmation hearings.
He also represented Shakur in both civil and criminal cases. A champion for civil rights, Ogletree fought unsuccessfully for reparations for survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Oklahoma massacre.
A native of California's agricultural heartland, Ogletree often shared that he worked on a farm in his youth where he picked peaches, almonds and cotton in the summer. The Merced County Courthouse in California was recently named after him.
Ogletree did not attend the courthouse dedication in February. However, his brother Richard Ogletree spoke at the event, saying that his brother – whom he called his “hero” – would have said, “I stand on the shoulders of others.”
“He always wants to give credit to others and not accept credit himself, which he so richly deserves,” Richard said.
Ogletree is survived by his wife, Pamela Barnes, to whom he was married for 47 years; his two children, Charles J. Ogletree, III and Rashida Ogletree-George; and four grandchildren.
