George Levi Russell Jr., a pioneering trial attorney and judge who achieved notable firsts throughout Maryland’s legal system, died Saturday at the Springwell Senior Living Community in Mount Washington. He was 96.

“George was a legal giant and a symbol of progress. He went from the segregated era to the integrated era to one of power. His life marked the historical progress in our community,” said former Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, who is president of the University of Baltimore.

Mr. Russell was the first Black circuit court judge in Maryland, first Black city solicitor of Baltimore, and the first Black appeals court judge in the state. He chaired the board that created what became the Reginald Lewis Museum and insisted it be located in a prominent downtown location.

In 2017, he was named to The Baltimore Sun’s Business and Civic Hall of Fame.

“Few attorneys, white or black, tower over Maryland’s legal landscape of the last half-century like George Russell Jr. His natural talent, determination, work ethic and refusal to settle for anything but excellence opened doors for whole generations of lawyers who would follow,” The Sun said in an article announcing his nomination.

Born in Baltimore and raised on Fremont Avenue, he was the son of George L. Russell Sr., a postal worker, and Marie Russell, a homemaker. He attended School 103 and Booker T. Washington Junior High School, and was a Frederick Douglass High School graduate. He earned degrees at Lincoln University and the University of Maryland School of Law.

Mr. Russell was an Army lawyer from 1954 to 1956 and was later a partner in Brown, Allen, Watts, Murphy & Russell, a firm he merged with the larger, mainstream firm of Piper & Marbury.

Stuart O. Simms, former Baltimore state’s attorney, said Mr. Russell was “a leading light in the era of distinguished legal figures — Joseph Howard, Harry Cole, Charles Dorsey and Juanita Jackson Mitchell. He shouldered the most difficult matters and had no tolerance for tomfoolery or stupidity.”

Mr. Russell faced numerous challenges throughout his career. As Baltimore city solicitor, he had to establish how to treat the thousands of people who were arrested during the 1968 riots. He also defended the city in a lawsuit brought by the NAACP. As a judge, he once ruled that the Ku Klux Klan should be allowed to meet at the Baltimore Convention Center.

Mr. Russell mounted a vigorous campaign to become mayor in 1971. He lost in the Democratic primary to William Donald Schaefer, getting 58,528 votes, or 34%.

While Mr. Russell often focused on criminal cases, he also played a pivotal role in Baltimore’s corporate life. He assisted making the Parks Sausage Co. the first African American-owned firm to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange. He was a former chairman of the board of the Harbor Bank of Maryland.

“George was a special guy,” University of Maryland law professor Larry Gibson said. “He opened doors for others and he left that door open.”

Colleagues said Mr. Russell had a gift for finding the relevant points in an argument and communicating with a judge or jury with a humor and deftness that crossed racial lines.

“George was very disciplined and you never were going to outwork him,” said Kenneth L. Thompson, a longtime business partner. “On being hired, I thought I was being generous when I suggested I would begin my day at 7 a.m. He was not impressed. He said he expected me here at 6 a.m.”

Mr. Thompson said his colleague was a “private man and an introspective person” who cared deeply about helping others.

“He had a criminal practice and he cared about the people he represented,” Mr. Thompson said. “He would sit them down and have a religious conversation. He would advise them to go to church and have a relationship with God.”

Mr. Russell was a former president Baltimore City Bar Association; a director for BGE and Constellation Energy Group; and a former chairman of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Baltimore branch.

He was honored in 1995 with the Special Outstanding Achievement Award from the Maryland Bar Foundation, and in 1997 he received the Minority Law Partner Recognition Award from the NAACP.

His wife of 62 years, Marion Ann Russell, died in 2021.

Survivors include his son, George L. Russell III, chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, and two grandchildren.

Services are being planned.

Have a news tip? Contact Jacques Kelly at jacques.kelly@baltsun.com and 410-332-6570.