William Evans Mitch

MITCH, WILLIAM EVANS, age 89, of Mountain Brook, died March 5, 2005. Mr. Mitch was a senior partner in the law firm, Cooper, Mitch & Crawford. He had been in the active practice of law in Birmingham for over 60 years. In activities in and out of the courtroom, he influenced regional and national policy on civil rights, civil liberties and legislative reapportionment. These included cases that created the legal underpinning for the arbitration of grievances under Labor/Man-agement Contracts and the Reynolds v. Sims case that led to the historic one man-one vote decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was a member of the Canterbury United Methodist Church. During World War II, he served as a C.I.C./Fighter Director Officer on the U.S.S. Prince William C.V.E. 31 in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Mr. Mitch is survived by his son, Dr. William E. Mitch, Galvaston, TX; granddaughter, Eleanor Baylor Mitch, New York, NY; grandson, Dr. William A. Mitch, New Haven, CT; his daughter, Mrs. Churchill G. Carey, San Juan, PR; grandson, William C. Carey, San Francisco, CA; grandson, Dr. Timothy M. Carey, Tampa, FL; and granddaughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Carey Burwell, Stanford, CA; and his son, John Timothy Mitch, Birmingham, AL; grandson, John T. Mitch, Jr. Chattanooga, TN; and granddaughter, Katherine M. Stanley of Corinth, MS. Services will be held at the chapel of Canterbury United Methodist Church at 2 p.m. followed by private interment at Elmwood Cemetery. The family request that in lieu of flowers, any memorials be made to the Jimmy Hale Mission or to the William E. Mitch Scholarship at the University of Alabama School of Law. Ridout's Elmwood Chapel directing.