Share
Former Appeals Court Judge Clifton Johnson of Charlotte, one of North Carolina's judicial pioneers, died Thursday night in Asheville. He was 67.
Though retired in 1996, he continued working as a fill-in Superior Court judge. He was attending a Superior Court judges conference when he suffered an apparent heart attack.
Johnson was the first African American to have served on three courts, as a District, Superior and Appeals courts judge.
“I thought he was one of the best appointments I ever made,” former Gov. Jim Hunt said Friday. Hunt named him to the Superior and Appeals benches.
“He combined two things which were just extraordinary,” Hunt added. “He was one of the nicest, most caring people you've ever seen. You just couldn't find a nicer person. … On the bench, he was as strong, as careful, as insistent on things being done right as any person I've every seen.”
A graduate of N.C. Central University and law school, Johnson in 1969 became the first African American assistant state prosecutor for North Carolina since the 19th century. He went on to serve on the District and Superior courts before moving to the court of appeals in 1982.
“Judge Johnson was an extraordinarily fine person, a superb jurist and a dedicated public servant who will surely be missed,” said N.C. Chief Justice Sarah Parker, who served with Johnson on the appeals court.
She went on to say that when the state had to suspend payments for emergency fill-in judges, Johnson called.
“(He) said that the court system and the people of North Carolina had been good to him for many years, and he would be happy to hold court wherever he was needed without compensation, just let him know when and where.”
During his career, Johnson worked to bring diversity to the courts, hiring the state's first African American court reporter in 1974.
About eight years later, he hired the first black executive assistant in the N.C. Court of Appeals.
“It will be a great loss to this community and to me personally,” said friend Franklin McCain, himself a civil rights pioneer. “He will be remembered as a person who was interested in little people, their welfare … and as someone who sought fairness for everyone and every cause.”
Jim Morrill: 704-358-5059
