BETHESDA, Md., Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Jerris Leonard, who headed the U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division during the Nixon administration, has died at the age of 75.
Leonard suffered from liver cancer, The Washington Post reported.
As assistant attorney general for civil rights, Leonard helped set up biracial committees in Southern states to implement school desegregation, an effort he said years later "had some successes," the Post said. He also served as the first administrator of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, which aided local police departments.
After growing up in Milwaukee, Leonard graduated from Marquette University Law School. He was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly at the age of 25 and remained in the state Legislature as a representative and senator until he made an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate in 1968.
As a state legislator, Leonard had gotten to know a New York bond lawyer, John Mitchell, who became President Richard Nixon's first attorney general, the Post said.
After he left the federal government in 1973, the Bethesda, Md., resident went into private practice, where his clients ranged from Mohammed Ali to President George H.W. Bush when he was head of the Republican National Committee.
