Respected VBlack Federal Judge, dies at 63

Hat Tip to Professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr.and my hometown newspaper, The Bay State Banner for the following article on the premature passing of U.S. District Judge Reginald Lindsay.

Massachusetts lost a great lawyer and judge last Thursday, March 12, 2009, with the premature passing of U.S. District Judge Reginald Lindsay. He was only 63 years old.

Judge Lindsay was the second African American to serve on the Federal District Court of Massachusetts. David Nelson, a Boston native, was the first.

U.S. District Judge Reginald Lindsay (front, center) and a young Deval Patrick, then President Bill Clinton’s nominee for the position of Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Civil Rights (back, center), pose with students and staff at the George A. Lewis Middle School in Roxbury, in this Banner file photo. Lindsay, the second black person to sit as a federal judge in Massachusetts, died March 12, 2009, after a series of illnesses. He was 63. (Banner file photo) H/T Denise Lavoieat the Baystate Banner.

Both had extraordinary careers, and I would like to reflect for a moment on the deep voids created by their deaths and the significant contributions both made during their lives.

Judge Lindsay’s predecessor, Judge Nelson, was a graduate of Boston College and Boston College Law School. He was one of the warmest and most humorous persons I have ever met and served on the federal district court after being appointed by President Carter in 1979.

Judge Nelson was highly regarded by his judicial colleagues and quickly established a well-earned reputation for excellence and fairness that Judge Lindsay continued during his tenure. Although Judge Nelson ran unsuccessfully for several Massachusetts political offices, he was known and respected as someone deeply committed to the residents of his home state.

Reginald Lindsay graduated from Morehouse College in 1967. He enrolled immediately at Harvard Law School, and was among the first cohort of African Americans in the late 20th century to graduate from Harvard in 1970. More HERE