POWELL, LEWIS F. JR.

born Sept. 19, 1907, Suffolk, Va., U.S. died Aug. 25, 1998, Richmond, Va. in full Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1972 to 1987. Powell graduated from Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, in 1929 and obtained his law degree from that institution in 1931. He then earned a master's degree in law from the Harvard Law School in 1932 and joined a Richmond law firm that same year. In 1938 he was made partner in a larger firm. After World War II he renewed his law practice and served in several civic posts. As chairman of the public school board in Richmond (1952-61), he began the process of integrating the schools while other school districts in Virginia were experiencing bitter disputes. He served as president of the American Bar Association from 1964 to 1965. Widely respected in legal circles, the thoughtful, pragmatic, and conciliatory Powell was nominated in October 1971 by President Richard M. Nixon to a seat on the Supreme Court. He was easily confirmed by the Senate in December and took his seat on the court in January 1972. Powell was one of the more conservative members of the court during the 1970s and early '80s, but he came to occupy a key centrist position as President Ronald Reagan's appointments shifted the court's makeup to the right. Powell took a moderate-to-liberal stance on such issues as legalized abortion, separation of church and state, and civil-rights questions but was basically a conservative on matters of crime and law enforcement. He retired in 1987 because of his uncertain health. That retirement set off a firestorm of protest regarding Robert H. Bork, who was the nominee chosen to replace Powell; Bork was not confirmed by the Senate. Until 1996 Powell sat as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond.