IL SR1839

Lewis Myers Jr., a prominent civil rights lawyer, passed away on May 24, 2018.

Led student desegregation efforts in Houston as NAACP Youth Council President and earned his law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1972.

Filed landmark civil rights lawsuits including Robinson vs. University of Mississippi (challenging law school racial discrimination) and served as one of the lawyers in the historic Ayers vs. Mississippi case that led to desegregation of higher education institutions.

Served as Director of Litigation for North Mississippi Rural Legal Services overseeing 45 lawyers and 40 paralegals, and later became a prominent Chicago litigation lawyer teaching at DePaul University School of Law and Chicago State University.

The Illinois Senate mourns his passing and extends condolences to his surviving wife Celestine Narcisse-Myers and son Lewis Myers III.