Clifford Alexander, a pioneering attorney who forcefully championed civil rights as a presidential adviser and in private practice, taught his son that lawyers “can use their power” to make a difference.
“People come to lawyers and they’ve got a problem they want, and need, to be solved,” Mark Alexander said in an interview about his father who died July 3 at his Manhattan home at 88. “And there’s a nobility to that.”
Alexander’s long career in public service and as a private attorney grew from the civil rights movement. He advocated for improving leadership opportunities for Black people in the ...