Henry Marsh, Richmond’s first Black mayor, dies at 91
Henry Marsh — a towering Richmond civil rights figure who served as the first Black mayor of the former capital of the Confederacy — has died at 91, according to the office of U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine.
An attorney who battled racial discrimination in the courts, Marsh was first elected to the Richmond City Council in 1966. Marsh became mayor after residents elected the city’s first majority-Black City Council in 1977, putting him in a leadership role at a tense time when Richmond’s mostly white business class feared a loss of control over city government.
He went on to represent Richmond in the Virginia Senate, where he served from 1991 until resigning in 2014.
“My heart is heavy with grief and full of gratitude that I had the chance to know Henry Marsh—a truly exceptional person,” Kaine (D-Va.) said in a statement Friday afternoon. “A born-and-raised Richmonder who become active in the civil rights movement before he even graduated from Maggie L. Walker High School, Henry never waited even for a moment to do all he could to serve and improve his community.”
After stepping down from the General Assembly, he was appointed to the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
Tributes to Marsh, who has a Richmond elementary school named in his honor, started pouring after news of his death broke Friday afternoon.
“Senator Marsh was a trailblazer and a champion for the City of Richmond, as well as for civil rights across the Commonwealth of Virginia,” said U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, who served with Marsh in the state senate. “He was on the frontlines of the fight to integrate schools in Virginia following the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education and his law firm, Hill, Tucker and Marsh, filed more employment discrimination lawsuits than any law firm in the Commonwealth. While he is widely recognized for making history as the first Black American elected Mayor of Richmond, he should also be remembered for his relentless advocacy for the city and his efforts to transform and revitalize it.”
In a social media post, Former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said Virginia had “lost a giant.”
“He loved Richmond and Virginia,” Stoney said. “Simply put, he made both better.”
Richmond schools Superintendent Jason Kamras shared the following:
“Senator Marsh was a trailblazer for justice and equity in Richmond and we will all forever be in his debt. I'm enormously grateful I had the opportunity to get to know him and benefit from his counsel. More than that, I'm so honored that we, as a school system, were able to give him his flowers while he was still with us by naming a school after him. We all stand on the shoulders of giants like Senator Marsh.”
In a statement Richmond City Council President Cynthia Newbille (7th District) called Marsh a "trailblazer, statesman and a lifelong advocate for justice and equality."
"Richmond has lost a giant whose unwavering commitment to civil rights and public service has left an indelible mark on our city, our Commonwealth, and our nation," Newbille said.