Lewis Franklin Powell - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

Lewis Powell served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from January 7, 1972 until June 26, 1987. Both Justice Powell and Justice William Rehnquist were nominated on the same day by President Richard Nixon. Justice Powell took over the seat of Justice Hugo Black and distinguished himself as a judicial moderate, and was known as a master of compromise and consensus-building. Justice Powell was nearly 80 years old when he resigned is position and was succeeded by Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy was the third nominee for his position. The first, Robert Bork, was not confirmed by the Senate, and the second, Douglas H. Ginsburg, withdrew his name from consideration after some concerns were raised during the background investigation, prior to the Senate Confirmation Hearings. Following his retirement from the high court, Powell sat regularly on various United States Courts of Appeals around the country, he especially enjoyed sitting on circuit courts venued in temperate climes during the winter months. Justice Powell died of pneumonia at his home in the Windsor Farms area of Richmond, Virginia, on August 25, 1998, at the age of 90. His funeral was attended by all nine of the sitting Suprem Court Justice’s. He is buried in Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery.

Description: Lewis F. Powell, Jr., was born on November 19, 1907, in Virginia, the son of Lewis F. and Mary Powell. He was the oldest of four children. Powell obtained his bachelor's (1929) and law (1931) degrees from Washington and Lee University. He then obtained an advanced law degree, from Harvard University in 1932. Powell moved to Richmond, Virginia, and after practicing with one law firm for a couple of years, he joined a firm that would become Hunton and Williams, today one of the larger law firms in the United States. During World War II, Powell, like Byron White, served in the military. Powell was an intelligence officer for the Army's nascent air force for three years. During the 1950s, when several Virginia politicians proclaimed "massive resistance" to the Supreme Court's decisions in Brown v. Board of Education (1954 and 1955), Powell emerged as conservative who opposed such actions. In 1959, the Richmond public schools were integrated, albeit just barely, during the time Powell was chair of the school board in the city. Powell was apparently asked several times by President Richard Nixon to serve on the Court. He finally agreed to do so, and in 1971 Powell left private practice to fill the seat of Justice Hugo Black. Powell was a centrist whose vote was often crucial on a regularly divided court. Powell retired from the Court in 1987, but continued to serve as a visiting judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit until 1997. Justice Powell died at his home in Richmond, Virginia on August 25, 1998. He was 90-years old. He is buried in historic Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. (Source: http://www.michaelariens.com/ConLaw/justices/powell.htm Date of birth: 11/19/1907 Date of death: 08/25/1998 Area of notoriety: Historical Figure Marker Type: Headstone Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: Open daily 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (open until 6:00 p.m. April - October) Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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