George Bundy Smith, civil rights pioneer and renowned jurist endorses Norman Siegel for Public Advocate.

George Bundy Smith judicial career began in 1975 when he was named to the Civil Court of New York City. He was a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York from 1980 to 1986, and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, from 1987 to 1992. He was appointed to the Court of Appeals, New York's highest court, in 1992 by Governor Mario Cuomo, and served as an Associate Judge until his retirement in September 2006.

“Norman Siegel has been a champion for the underserved all of his life. He will be a strong advocate for all New Yorkers.” - George Bundy Smith

More on Smith’s amazing life:

First as a student and then a young lawyer, Judge Smith was deeply involved in the cause of civil rights. In 1961, he joined other students in the landmark Freedom Rides to Montgomery, Alabama. After graduating from Yale Law School, Judge Smith served as an attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. He later became a judicial law secretary in the New York state courts, and from 1974 to 1975 was the administrator of New York City's Model Cities Program.

After his retirement from the bench, Judge Smith joined Chadbourne & Parke, LLC, and has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Fordham University Law School since 1981. He has also been involved in a variety of community and professional activities, including as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Grace Congregational Church and a member of the Board of Directors of the Harlem-Dowling Westside Center for Children and Family Services. He is the co-chair of one of the transition committees working on behalf of New York Attorney General-Elect Andrew Cuomo. In 2007 Judge Smith received the Hon. William Brennan Award for Outstanding Jurist, honoring his work in the civil rights movement and his 30 years of service as a judge.

Photos by Christine Speicher