Civil rights attorney George Barrett dies at 86
Source: The Tennessean
George Barrett, the irrepressible lawyer who defended student demonstrators early in his career and kept up the fight for civil rights nearly to the end, died Tuesday. He was 86.
The cause of death was acute pancreatitis, which sent Mr. Barrett to the hospital about two weeks ago, a family spokeswoman said.
Mr. Barrett cut a self-assured figure in Nashville’s legal community for more than 50 years after graduating from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1957 and taking a job with Cecil Branstetter, who was becoming one of the South’s leading labor lawyers. Routinely calling himself “The Citizen,” Mr. Barrett took on authority figures with an attitude of righteous indignation whenever he thought they were abusing power.
“I don’t know if another lawyer in Nashville ever practiced law at such a high level for so many decades and had such an impact,” said David Garrison, a partner at Barrett Johnston Martin & Garrison who started working with Mr. Barrett about 10 years ago.
Read more: http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2014/08/26/civil-rights-attorney-george-barrett-dies/14658171/
= new reply since forum marked as read
