DENVER, April 16 (UPI) -- Former Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White, 84, died on Monday in Denver from complications of pneumonia.
White served on the nation's highest court from 1962 to 1993. He was appointed by President John F. Kennedy.
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"He came as close as anyone I have known to meriting Matthew Arnold's description of Sophocles," Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist told Tuesday's Washington Post.
"He 'saw life steadily and saw it whole.'"
White supported federal enforcement of civil right laws and opposed abortion rights.
Throughout his time on the bench, White was known as one of the gruffer members of the court, the Post said. He made few public statements and wrote brief opinions.
He was succeeded on the court by Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
