Christopher Edley Jr

Christopher Edley Jr., a civil rights expert and policy adviser who worked closely with three Democratic presidents and six presidential campaigns and served as an innovative dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, died on Friday May 10 2024in Stanford, Calif. He was 71. His wife, Maria Echaveste, a deputy chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, said the cause of death, in a hospital, was complications of surgery. Christopher Edley, Jr. joined Boalt Hall as dean and professor of law in 2004, after 23 years as a professor at Harvard Law School. He earned a law degree and a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University, where he served as an editor and officer of the Harvard Law Review. Edley's academic work is primarily in the areas of civil rights and administrative law. He has also taught federalism, budget policy, Defense Department procurement law, national security law, and environmental law. Edley was co-founder of the Harvard Civil Rights Project, a renowned multidisciplinary research and policy think tank focused on issues of racial justice. His publications include Not All Black and White: Affirmative Action, Race and American Values and Administrative Law: Rethinking Judicial Control of Bureaucracy He was known as a stalwart advocate for liberal policies on race, especially affirmative action, a position that often put him at odds with Democratic centrists eager to moderate the party’s civil rights stance. He stepped down as dean of Berkeley law in 2013 to deal with treatment for prostate cancer. He returned to teaching in 2016, and in 2021 was interim dean of the university’s school of education. Christopher Fairfield Edley Jr., was born on Jan. 13, 1953, in Boston, where his father, Chris Edley Sr., was completing legal studies at Harvard. His mother, Zaida (Coles) Edley, was an actress and speech therapist. Christopher grew up in Philadelphia and New Rochelle, N.Y., following his father’s career as a prosecutor, program officer at the Ford Foundation and president of the United Negro College Fund. He graduated with a degree in mathematics and economics from Swarthmore College in 1973, then enrolled at Harvard Law School, where he became the first second-generation Black student in the institution’s history. He took a leave of absence in 1976 to work for Mr. Carter’s presidential campaign, then joined the Carter White House after graduating in 1978, receiving both a law degree and a master’s in public policy. Edley’s first two marriages ended in divorce. He met Ms. Echaveste while both were involved with the Clinton White House; they married in 1999. Along with her, he is survived by his son from his second marriage, Christopher Edley III; two children with Ms. Echaveste, Elias and Zara; a grandson; and his sister, Judith Edley. .