Then State Sen. Henry L. Marsh III (D-Richmond) speaks in Petersburg, Va., May 23, 2013. (Patrick Kane/The Progress-Index via AP)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RICHMOND, Va. — Current and former Virginia elected leaders speaking at this weekend’s service for the first Black mayor of Richmond recalled Henry L. Marsh III’s trailblazing career and his lifetime commitment to civil rights.
Hundreds of people attended Saturday’s funeral at a Richmond-area church for Marsh, who died Jan. 23 at age 91, according to the Manning Funeral Home. Richmond was the former capital of the Confederacy.
Marsh, who was born in Richmond and educated in segregated schools, devoted much of his work to dismantling racial segregation in schools, government and the workplace.
“He saw injustice and he did something about it,” U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) told mourners, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
Marsh was elected to the Richmond City Council in 1966. Four years later, he became vice mayor. In 1977, the city council made him the city’s first Black mayor. At the time, the mayor and vice mayor were appointed by city council.
After a single term as mayor, Marsh was elected to the Virginia State Senate in 1991 and represented the 16th District for 22 years before resigning.
Marsh’s focus on dismantling segregation was honored in 2020 when Richmond’s school board renamed the elementary school he attended for him.
“He taught us it is one thing to have power, and it is another to use it,” Dwight Jones, Richmond’s mayor from 2009 to 2016, said on Saturday. “He changed the trajectory of the city.”
During his eulogy, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), himself a former Richmond mayor and civil rights lawyer, recounted Marsh’s mentorship.
As a student at Virginia Union University, Marsh testified before state lawmakers to oppose Virginia maintaining separate public schools for Blacks and whites.
Marsh then attended Howard University Law School, sharing a room with L. Douglas Wilder, who followed Marsh as Richmond’s mayor and later became the nation’s first Black governor.
Marsh joined with Samuel L. Tucker to form a law firm in 1961. Together, they won legal battles involving Philip Morris and seniority for Black employees, and the establishment of single-member districts in both chambers of the General Assembly.
Scott said Saturday that Marsh was lead attorney on nearly 50 lawsuits to end segregated schools in Virginia.
Marsh was later appointed by then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe as commissioner of the state’s Department of Alcohol Beverage Control.
Marsh’s wife, Diane, a dentist, died in 2020. His survivors include three children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
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