Jack Greenberg was born on December 22, 1924. During World War II, he served in the Pacific with the Navy and went ashore in a landing ship tank in the invasion of Iwo Jima. He received a bachelor's degree from Columbia University and a law degree from Columbia Law School.
He became one of the nation's most effective champions of the civil rights struggle. He was involved in more than 40 civil rights cases before the Supreme Court. He was the director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. from 1961 to 1984. He was an adjunct professor of law at Columbia University starting in 1970, became a professor in 1984, and was named dean of Columbia College in 1989. He retired in 1994. He wrote several books including Crusaders in the Courts: How a Dedicated Band of Lawyers Fought for the Civil Rights Revolution. In 2001, he received the Presidential Citizens Medal. He died on October 12, 2016 at the age of 91.
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