Local attorney and activist Walter Willard dies

21st February 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer

New Orleans attorney and civil rights activist Walter Willard died on February 11 at the age of 64 due to complications from early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease.

Willard was born the fifth of 12 children. He was the son of Elliot “Doc” Willard, an Orleans Parish School Board member and former principal of St. Augustine High School. He was the brother of former New Orleans City Councilwoman and Louisiana State Senator Cynthia Willard Lewis.

Willard graduated from St. Augustine in 1975 and was a member of St. Aug’s Marching 100. He earned his B.A. in political science from Tulane University in 1979, where he also played with the university’s marching band. He received a law degree from American University in Washington, D.C. While in Washington, D.C., Willard worked in the offices of Senator Russell Long and Senator J. Bennett Johnston.

After he returned to New Orleans, Willard received a Master of Law degree in energy and environment from Tulane. He was admitted to the bar in Louisiana, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He worked as judge pro tempore for Orleans Civil District Court. He also did volunteer work as an attorney in child neglect cases for Orleans Parish Juvenile Court’s CASA program.

When running for Orleans Civil District Court in 1994, Willard told The Times-Picayune, “I want to make people feel comfortable in court, whether witnesses, jurors or litigants.”

Willard was one of the plaintiffs in the landmark Chisom v Edwards case in 1987. In that lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued the election process for Louisiana Supreme Court justices unfairly diluted and minimized the voting strength of Black voters registered in Orleans Parish. The plaintiffs won the suit, which paved the way for Louisiana’s first Black Supreme Court justice.

“Walter was a great lawyer and passionate about justice and civil rights,” said Bill Quigley, an emeritus professor of law at Loyola University of New Orleans who represented Willard and the other plaintiffs in the Chisom v. Edwards case. “We were honored to partner with him as one of the plaintiffs in the Chisom case.”

Former New Orleans Mayor and current president and CEO of the National Urban League Marc Morial was one of Willard’s co-plaintiffs in Chisom v Edwards. Morial wrote about the experience in his book, “The Gumbo Coalition: 10 Leadership Lessons That Help You Inspire, Unite, and Achieve.” He referred to Willard as one of the best “new generation” civil rights attorneys.

“…Many older, Black lawyers counseled us against suing the state, saying it was professional suicide….This was no quick process, but a protracted fight,” wrote Morial. But after Willard, Morial and the other plaintiffs won, “…all the original naysayers who warned us against suing the state lauded us for our legal and political bravery.”

Willard and Morial’s relationship went all the way back to summer jobs in their youth at the Family Health Foundation.

“Every day we would go to lunch together and eat fried chicken at a small take-out place just off Canal Street behind the old Delta Towers Hotel. That encounter began a lifelong friendship,” Morial said in an e-mail. “In every respect, Walter was the quintessential hard-working lawyer with a scholarly bent. His devotion to his family, his wife and children, to his civic responsibilities, was second to none… I ask that all join in celebration a life of commitment, accomplishments, and compassion.”

Environmental causes were a passion for Willard. He authored a 1992 article in the Southern University Law Journal titled “Environmental Racism: The Merging of Civil Rights and Environmental Activism.”

Willard is survived by his wife, Valerie, and their three daughters – Jordan, Jillian and Jenna. He is also survived by his 11 siblings and many nieces and nephews.

In a comment on her Facebook page, Valerie Willard said she was “consoled that he has finally found peace after his long struggle with Alzheimer’s.”

This article originally published in the February 21, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.