Pioneering Black Lawyer, Judge Dies
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Thomas L. Griffith Jr., a retired Superior Court judge who was the first black ever elected in a Los Angeles countywide vote and the first black attorney ever admitted to the Los Angeles County Bar Assn., is dead.
The longtime president of the local chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People was 83 and died in Centinela Hospital Saturday from complications of a stroke.
A 1928 graduate of Southwestern University, Griffith worked his way through the law school while working at a service station in Hollywood. He had come to Los Angeles in 1922 from his birthplace in Albia, Iowa.
He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1931 and was in private practice until 1953 when then-Gov. Earl Warren appointed him to the Municipal Court. On Feb. 21, 1950, he became the first black attorney ever admitted to the Los Angeles County Bar Assn.
In 1961 he was elected presiding judge of the Municipal Court, the first black man so honored by his peers. Then in November, 1968, he was elected to Superior Court, the first black judge chosen by county voters.
From 1934 to 1949 he headed the NAACP here and was at the forefront of the integration of municipal swimming pools at a time when blacks and Latinos could swim only on assigned days.
Griffith, who retired in 1972, is survived by his wife, Portia; daughters, Liza and Greta; a brother; a sister, and nine grandchildren.
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