Charles J. Ogletree Jr., law professor and civil rights scholar, dead at 70

Charles J. Ogletree Jr., a law professor and civil rights scholar with a distinguished career at Harvard Law School and whose clients included Anita Hill and Tupac Shakur, died Friday after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Harvard Law School Dean John F. Manning shared news of Ogletree’s death in a message to the campus community Friday. “Charles was a tireless advocate for civil rights, equality, human dignity, and social justice,” Manning said in the message that the law school emailed to the Associated Press. “His extraordinary contributions stretch from his work as a practicing attorney advancing civil rights, criminal defense, and equal justice to the change he brought to Harvard Law School as an impactful institution builder to his generous work as teacher and mentor who showed our students how law can be an instrument for change,” he said.