Charles Thompson

Charles William Sydnor Thompson, Jr. February 18, 1924 - January 27, 2015 CHARLOTTE - Judge Sydnor Thompson was born in Baltimore on February 18, 1924 to Sydnor Thompson, Sr. and Helen Layne Thompson. Raised a proud son of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Sydnor spent much of his adult life researching and celebrating his family's distinguished history in his home state. Graduating from Lynchburg's E. C. Glass High School in 1941 with the highest grade point average in the history of the school, he was offered a full tuition scholarship to attend Syracuse University where he was to meet his future bride, Harriette Line of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Like so many others of his generation, Sydnor's life was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in March of 1943 and served with the 879th Field Artillery Battalion of the 69th Infantry Division. During the course of the war, he earned a Bronze Star for heroism and, as a member of the "Fighting 69th", was recognized as a liberator of Leipzig-Thekla, a sub-camp of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. At the conclusion of the war, Sydnor studied at St. Andrew's University in Scotland as part of a program established by Great Britain to repay its lend-lease debt to the United States. Sydnor returned to complete his studies at Syracuse and to win the heart of his beloved "Hattie." They married in the campus chapel immediately following their graduation ceremony in June of 1947. He was accepted to Harvard Law School and, in characteristic fashion, engaged the experience fully, excelling in his studies and serving on the Harvard Law Review, Volume 64. Graduating from Harvard Law in 1950, Sydnor was awarded a Fulbright scholarship, studying international law at Manchester University Law School and the London School of Economics. His early studies and life experiences in Great Britain helped to assure that Sydnor remained a lifelong and unapologetic Anglophile. Hired by the New York City law firm of Davis Polk upon his return from Europe, Sydnor was assigned in 1952 to work with the senior partner of the firm and erstwhile presidential candidate, John W. Davis, representing the state of South Carolina in Briggs vs. Elliott (later Brown vs. the Board of Education) before the United States Supreme Court. In what has been called the most important Supreme Court decision of the twentieth century, Davis and he fought against school integration, a cause that he would ironically spend much of his later life championing. As he told Nina Totenberg in an interview broadcast on National Public Radio in 2004, "thank God we lost!" While a student at Harvard in the summer of 1949, Sydnor had clerked at the law firm of Taliaferro, Clarkson and Grier in Charlotte, NC and grew especially to admire the attorneys Francis Clarkson and Joe Grier. Often visiting his beloved mother, Helen Thompson Grose, who now lived in Charlotte, Sydnor maintained his relationship with the firm and was offered a partnership in what was to become Grier, Parker, Poe and Thompson in 1954. Sydnor and Harriette soon moved to the Queen City where they raised five children and sank deep and lasting roots in the community. Sydnor's long and successful legal practice as a litigator in Charlotte was characterized not only by professional excellence but by an understanding of the law as a vocation to public service. Governor Jim Hunt doubtless saw those qualities in him when he appointed him to serve on the North Carolina Court of Appeals from 1994 to 1995. Retiring from legal practice in 1994, Sydnor began another chapter in his career, serving as a certified mediator and arbitrator until 2014. Throughout his life as an attorney, Sydnor worked to build a legal culture that reflected the highest standards of ethical practice, community service and social justice. In recognition of his service to his profession, he was inducted into the North Carolina Bar Association's General Practice Hall of Fame in 2003. In November 2014, a Justice Fund was established in honor of Sydnor Thompson by the North Carolina Bar Association Foundation. A lifelong member of the Democratic Party and unsuccessful candidate for the NC State House in 1992, Sydnor worked tirelessly in his adult life to recruit and fund qualified Democratic candidates for state and local races. A "Good Democrat" to the core, his engagement with politics always reflected respect for those of differing views, the promotion of civil discourse, and the pursuit of the common good. A devout United Methodist and dedicated Sunday School teacher at Myers Park United Methodist Church, Sydnor was committed to ecumenical and inter-faith dialogue, receiving the North Carolina Council of Churches' Distinguished Service Award in 2013. His faith was expressed in a strong commitment to a "Social Gospel," as evidenced by his work to establish Mecklenburg Ministries (MeckMin) in its mission of interfaith cooperation, racial and ethnic understanding, and collaboration to address social issues. MeckMin established the Sydnor Thompson Jr. Community Leader Award in his honor in 2014. A generous supporter of the arts, Sydnor was frequently found among the cast in Charlotte plays and was celebrated by family and friends for poetry read on special occasions under the moniker "John Malcolm Brinnin," a character he once portrayed on the stage of the Mint Museum's Golden Circle Theatre. Sydnor was also a former President of the Wing Haven Foundation Board. Committed to community service throughout his legal career, Sydnor served as the President of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra from 1959-62, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Florence Crittenton Home and President of Crisis Assistance Ministries in the 1960s, President of Planned Parenthood of Greater Charlotte, 1970-72, President of Opera Carolina, 1972-74, Vice Chairman of the NC Arts Council, 1974-76, Chairman of the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party, 1977-79, and President of the Horace Williams Philosophy Discussion Group, 2001 to 2014. In recognition of his distinguished service to the state of North Carolina, Governor Beverly Perdue awarded him the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in 2012. Sydnor was preceded in death by his sister, Barbara Inge and a brother, Philip Grose. Sydnor is survived by his wife of 67 years, Harriette Line Thompson; their children, Darcy Howard, Sydnor Thompson III and his wife, Kelly, Harriet Moore and her husband, Kevin, Brenneman Thompson, Kathy-Line Kelly and her husband, Patrick; grandchildren, Wesley Wall, Lewis and Ruth Kluttz, Adaire and Angela Thompson, Alice and Rebecca Moore, Tristan Thompson, and Julia, Audrey and John Kelly; and a number of beloved nieces and nephews. He is also survived by a brother, Joseph F. Thompson and a sister-in-law, Virginia Grose. A memorial service to celebrate the life of Sydnor Thompson will be held at 11:00 AM Saturday, January 31, 2015, at Myers Park United Methodist Church with the Reverend Bill Roth officiating. The family will receive friends in Jubilee Hall following the memorial service. Memorials may be sent to MeckMin, 3900 Park Road, Charlotte, NC 28209; The North Carolina Council of Churches, 27 Horne Street, Raleigh, NC 27607; or to Wing Haven, 248 Ridge-wood Avenue, Charlotte, NC 28209. Arrangements are in the care of Kenneth W. Poe Funeral Director Licensee.