Black legal pioneer George L. Russell Jr. dies at age 96

George L. Russell Jr., a pioneer in the Black legal community who became the first Black to sit on an appellate court in Maryland, first Black city solicitor and first Black president of the Baltimore City Bar Association, died Saturday at the age of 96.

“He was a giant. He was a pioneer. He was somebody who paved the way for so many Black attorneys in this state,” said Del. Malcolm Ruff (D-Baltimore City), an attorney at the firm Murphy, Flacon & Murphy in Baltimore. “But for George Russell, I wouldn’t have the opportunity that I have today. There wouldn’t be this pathway for the legal practice for Black attorneys.”

Russell’s friends and colleagues said he often supported other Black attorneys.

Larry S. Gibson, a longtime friend and member of the same Black fraternity as Russell, Kappa Alpha Psi, said Russell joined other Black attorneys every Saturday morning “to just shoot the breeze” at Brown, Allen, Watts and Murphy, one of the first Black law firms in Baltimore and the first in the city’s downtown. Russell later became a partner in the firm.

“Those Saturday morning bull sessions really became familiar with George Russell. It began a change in my life,” said Gibson, who graduated with a law degree from Columbia University and was admitted to the bar in 1967. He then began to work for the firm in Baltimore.

One conversation Gibson recalled with Russell was about work ethic.

“George would go to bed between 7:30 to 8 o’clock [p.m.],” he said. “I remember George telling me, ‘You want to impress a client? Call them at 6:30 a.m. and tell them you’re working on their case.’”

Gibson said one of Russell’s major achievements dealt with influencing the community.

In 1982, Russell established Harbor Bank, one of the largest minority-owned banks in the nation. Gibson said Russell also had a major influence on the construction of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture in downtown Baltimore.

He said Russell pushed for Black architects to design the museum. One was Gary Bowden, who taught architecture at the University of Maryland, College Park. The museum will hold iits 20th anniversary gala next month.

“George was determined it was going to be built downtown from the ground up,” said Gibson, who is retiring this month after 50 years of teaching at the University of Maryland Francis Carey School of Law.

Russell was born March 19, 1929. According to The HistoryMakers, a nonprofit research and education institution, Russell’s mother was a homemaker and his father a postal worker.

He graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in 1946, then received a degree in economics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1950 and a law degree at the University of Maryland in 1954.

He was drafted into the Army the same year, working in legal and and in charge of courts, boards and special courts martial.

Russell left his law firm in 1966 after being appointed to become the first African American to serve as associate judge of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore and first to sit on an appellate court in Maryland. A few other firsts included the first Black city solicitor for Baltimore City (1968 to 1974), and the first Black candidate to run for mayor in 1971. He came in second place in the Democratic primary behind eventually winner, William Donald Schaefer.

After city solicitor, Russell returned to private practice in the mid 1970s and became a partner at Russell & Thompson through 1986. During that year, Russell merged his Black firm with a predominantly white firm, Piper and Marbury, one of the top 100 firms in the country.

According to the Maryland archives, Russell became associated with the law offices of the late Peter G. Angelos, the former majority owner of the Baltimore Orioles.

Russell received numerous legal and community awards and served on statewide boards such as the Maryland Museum of African American History and Culture Commission, as chair of the Governor’s Salary Commission and chair of Baltimore’s Judicial Nominating Commission.

“I’m sorry to hear of the passing of Judge George Russell Jr.,” Del. Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City), chair of the House Judiciary Committee and assistant state’s attorney in Anne Arundel County, said in a text message Tuesday. “He was a trailblazing jurist, attorney and public servant who made the City of Baltimore and the State of Maryland better for all its residents while opening doors to African Americans that were closed for too long.”

Russell is survived by his son, George L. Russell III, who became chief judge of the U.S. District Court of Maryland in May 2024.