Bruce Wright, an honorary member of the Class of 2001 who crusaded against racial discrimination for a quarter-century as a New York judge, died in his sleep Thursday at the age of 86. His wife, Elizabeth Davidson-Wright, announced his death from their home in Old Saybrook, Conn.
Wright, a Princeton native, was known for his activism in the criminal court system. As a public lawyer and a judge, he criticized what he described as the racial bias of white judges and released poor and minority suspects on lower-than-average bail.
John Sheehan, who clerked for Judge Wright in the late 1970s and remained his friend until his death, recalled Wright's commitment to fighting racial injustice. Sheehan said he was "convinced that if [Wright] had been less principled and less controversial than he was, he would have been able to go a lot farther in the system, because he was a brilliant guy and he was an excellent trial judge."
Wright felt the effects of racial discrimination early in life, when he applied for admission to the University in the 1930s. After winning admission to the University and a scholarship to cover the cost of his tuition at age 15, he received a letter from an admissions officer advising him not to enroll because of his race, according to The New York Times.
In his memoir "Black Robes, White Justice," Wright offered a slightly different story. He said University officials did not realize he was black until he was standing in line to enroll. He was subsequently called into the dean's office and denied admission on the spot.
More than six decades later, the University has not officially apologized for its treatment of Wright during the admissions process, though the Class of 2001 named him an honorary member when it graduated four years ago.
After being turned away from Princeton, Wright entered Virginia State, a predominantly black college, but was later expelled for a prank. He then attended Lincoln University, another historically black institution, and joined the army immediately after his graduation in 1942.
Military service offered no escape from racial discrimination, though. Wright served in an all-black medical unit during the war, winning two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars for action in combat, including one from the invasion of Normandy in 1944.
"He was not given the benefits of other white soldiers, but that didn't make him bitter," Sheehan said. "He did for me — an Irish white boy — what few people would have done. He allowed me to learn from him and be his friend."
After attending New York Law School in 1946 and clerking for the firm Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn in his last year as a student, he was discouraged from joining the firm because he had no future there as a black man. He practiced law for the next 17 years at various firms in New York with black owners.
In 1967, Wright was named counsel to the city's Human Resources Administration. Mayor John Lindsay appointed him to the Criminal Court bench three years later.
Wright stirred up controversy almost immediately for releasing suspects, many of them charged with violent crimes, on relatively minimal bail.
He was also vocally critical of his white colleagues on the bench, accusing them of not treating black defendants fairly.
His policies and attitudes were denounced by many politicians, including Lindsay. Sheehan said Wright was bombarded with criticism for the duration of his career.
"He used to get hate mail every day from police offices, from other people who disliked him," Sheehan said. "This went on every day for all of the two years I worked for him and probably continued until he retired."
Wright, however, was undeterred. He never missed an opportunity to speak out against racism, Sheehan said.
Sheehan praised Wright for his assiduity, intelligence, approachability and warmth.
"I think he was a giant and not given enough credit for the work that he did in his community and for being the symbol that he was," Sheehan said.
Wright is survived by his wife, his brother Robert, of Willingborough, N.J., and five sons from previous marriages.
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