MARTIN, GALEN, 79, died Tuesday, December 19, 2006. He served as first executive director of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights and later headed the Kentucky Fair Housing Council. He is survived by his wife, Lou Martin; sister, Gaye Williams; children, Robert, David and Julie; grandchildren, Aaron, Amy, Alex, James, Adam, Shelby, Jacob, Brandon and Kelli; and three great- grandchildren. Memorial service is 3 p.m. Friday, December 29, 2006 at Central Presbyterian Church, 4th and Kentucky Streets. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the KY Fair Housing Council, 436 S. 7th St., Louisville 40203, or the Berea College Fund, 101 Chestnut St., Berea KY 40404.
Published in The Courier-Journal on 12/22/2006.
Galen Martin, one of Kentucky's foremost civil rights advocates for more than four decades, died yesterday from complications that developed after a biking accident three years ago.
Mr. Martin, 79, died in his sleep at his home in Louisville, said his daughter-in-law, Rhonda Martin.
In 2000, Mr. Martin was one of the original inductees into what is now called the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame. The honor was based heavily on his forceful work as executive director of the Kentucky Human Rights Commission from 1961 to 1989.
"You could not call the names of the leadership of the civil rights movement in this state without calling Galen Martin to the front," said William Turner, a University of Kentucky associate provost and former interim president at Kentucky State University.
"This was a man who by the accident of birth was white, yet he was the chief advocate of the state agency whose clients were almost all people of color, at least in the early days," Turner said. "This was his calling, coming from his working-class roots and deepened during his years as a student at Berea College."
Turner, who worked as a Human Rights Commission field representative in Eastern and Central Kentucky in the summer of 1968, called Mr. Martin "one of my friends and my mentors."
Mr. Martin secured his place in Kentucky's civil rights history with his instrumental work on two key bills.
He played a key role in writing and passing Kentucky's civil rights act in 1966. It was signed into law by Gov. Edward T. "Ned" Breathitt Jr. in the shadow of the statue of President Abraham Lincoln in the rotunda of the Kentucky Capitol in Frankfort. This was a historic moment, because it was the first time a state below the Mason-Dixon line passed legislation barring racial discrimination.
Mr. Martin also led the effort that resulted in the passage of the state's fair housing act.
A key feature of both laws was that Kentucky became the first state in the South to have the authority to enforce non-discrimination statutes.
Raoul Cunningham, president of the Louisville branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he first met and began working with Mr. Martin during the 1968 General Assembly, when the fair housing bill was under consideration.
"He was considered an expert nationally in fair housing," Cunningham said.
Cunningham, then an aide to state Rep. Norbert Blume, D-Louisville, said Mr. Martin's "heart was in the right place, and he used his legal expertise and his skill in drafting legislation" so that it was airtight, with no loopholes, and clearly prohibited discrimination.
"Galen had the same traits always," Cunningham said. "He was very, very committed to equal rights. Through his work with the Human Rights Commission, he strengthened the legislation that created the commission in the first place.
"He had the tenacity of a bulldog. He would sink his teeth into something and wouldn't give up."
In 1972, Mr. Martin was one of the plaintiffs' lawyers in the court case that forced the desegregation of the Louisville and Jefferson County schools, which then operated independent of each other. He also was an author of the school desegregation plan that arose from that case.
In 2003, when Mr. Martin was the executive director of Louisville's Fair Housing Council, he sustained a head injury while riding a mountain bike in a national forest near Bristol, Va. He convalesced in nursing homes in Lexington while he was in a coma and battled pneumonia.
Accusations of poor care were at the center of yet another struggle in his life on behalf of human rights. His wife, Lou Martin, alleged that a nursing home was not cleaning up after episodes of incontinence and was jeopardizing his life.
He moved to another nursing home, where he underwent therapy, and on June 14, 2004, he was moved back into his house in Louisville.
A native of East Rainelle, W.Va., Mr. Martin earned a bachelor's degree in economics at Berea College and a law degree at the University of Louisville.
Published in The Courier-Journal on 12/22/2006.
Galen Martin, one of Kentucky's foremost civil rights advocates for more than four decades, died yesterday from complications that developed after a biking accident three years ago.
Mr. Martin, 79, died in his sleep at his home in Louisville, said his daughter-in-law, Rhonda Martin.
In 2000, Mr. Martin was one of the original inductees into what is now called the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame. The honor was based heavily on his forceful work as executive director of the Kentucky Human Rights Commission from 1961 to 1989.
"You could not call the names of the leadership of the civil rights movement in this state without calling Galen Martin to the front," said William Turner, a University of Kentucky associate provost and former interim president at Kentucky State University.
"This was a man who by the accident of birth was white, yet he was the chief advocate of the state agency whose clients were almost all people of color, at least in the early days," Turner said. "This was his calling, coming from his working-class roots and deepened during his years as a student at Berea College."
Turner, who worked as a Human Rights Commission field representative in Eastern and Central Kentucky in the summer of 1968, called Mr. Martin "one of my friends and my mentors."
Mr. Martin secured his place in Kentucky's civil rights history with his instrumental work on two key bills.
He played a key role in writing and passing Kentucky's civil rights act in 1966. It was signed into law by Gov. Edward T. "Ned" Breathitt Jr. in the shadow of the statue of President Abraham Lincoln in the rotunda of the Kentucky Capitol in Frankfort. This was a historic moment, because it was the first time a state below the Mason-Dixon line passed legislation barring racial discrimination.
Mr. Martin also led the effort that resulted in the passage of the state's fair housing act.
A key feature of both laws was that Kentucky became the first state in the South to have the authority to enforce non-discrimination statutes.
Raoul Cunningham, president of the Louisville branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he first met and began working with Mr. Martin during the 1968 General Assembly, when the fair housing bill was under consideration.
"He was considered an expert nationally in fair housing," Cunningham said.
Cunningham, then an aide to state Rep. Norbert Blume, D-Louisville, said Mr. Martin's "heart was in the right place, and he used his legal expertise and his skill in drafting legislation" so that it was airtight, with no loopholes, and clearly prohibited discrimination.
"Galen had the same traits always," Cunningham said. "He was very, very committed to equal rights. Through his work with the Human Rights Commission, he strengthened the legislation that created the commission in the first place.
"He had the tenacity of a bulldog. He would sink his teeth into something and wouldn't give up."
In 1972, Mr. Martin was one of the plaintiffs' lawyers in the court case that forced the desegregation of the Louisville and Jefferson County schools, which then operated independent of each other. He also was an author of the school desegregation plan that arose from that case.
In 2003, when Mr. Martin was the executive director of Louisville's Fair Housing Council, he sustained a head injury while riding a mountain bike in a national forest near Bristol, Va. He convalesced in nursing homes in Lexington while he was in a coma and battled pneumonia.
Accusations of poor care were at the center of yet another struggle in his life on behalf of human rights. His wife, Lou Martin, alleged that a nursing home was not cleaning up after episodes of incontinence and was jeopardizing his life.
He moved to another nursing home, where he underwent therapy, and on June 14, 2004, he was moved back into his house in Louisville.
A native of East Rainelle, W.Va., Mr. Martin earned a bachelor's degree in economics at Berea College and a law degree at the University of Louisville.
MARTIN, GALEN, 79, died Tuesday, December 19, 2006. He served as first executive director of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights and later headed the Kentucky Fair Housing Council. He is survived by his wife, Lou Martin; sister, Gaye Williams; children, Robert, David and Julie; grandchildren, Aaron, Amy, Alex, James, Adam, Shelby, Jacob, Brandon and Kelli; and three great- grandchildren. Memorial service is 3 p.m. Friday, December 29, 2006 at Central Presbyterian Church, 4th and Kentucky Streets. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the KY Fair Housing Council, 436 S. 7th St., Louisville 40203, or the Berea College Fund, 101 Chestnut St., Berea KY 40404.
Published in The Courier-Journal on 12/22/2006.
Galen Martin, one of Kentucky's foremost civil rights advocates for more than four decades, died yesterday from complications that developed after a biking accident three years ago.
Mr. Martin, 79, died in his sleep at his home in Louisville, said his daughter-in-law, Rhonda Martin.
In 2000, Mr. Martin was one of the original inductees into what is now called the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame. The honor was based heavily on his forceful work as executive director of the Kentucky Human Rights Commission from 1961 to 1989.
"You could not call the names of the leadership of the civil rights movement in this state without calling Galen Martin to the front," said William Turner, a University of Kentucky associate provost and former interim president at Kentucky State University.
"This was a man who by the accident of birth was white, yet he was the chief advocate of the state agency whose clients were almost all people of color, at least in the early days," Turner said. "This was his calling, coming from his working-class roots and deepened during his years as a student at Berea College."
Turner, who worked as a Human Rights Commission field representative in Eastern and Central Kentucky in the summer of 1968, called Mr. Martin "one of my friends and my mentors."
Mr. Martin secured his place in Kentucky's civil rights history with his instrumental work on two key bills.
He played a key role in writing and passing Kentucky's civil rights act in 1966. It was signed into law by Gov. Edward T. "Ned" Breathitt Jr. in the shadow of the statue of President Abraham Lincoln in the rotunda of the Kentucky Capitol in Frankfort. This was a historic moment, because it was the first time a state below the Mason-Dixon line passed legislation barring racial discrimination.
Mr. Martin also led the effort that resulted in the passage of the state's fair housing act.
A key feature of both laws was that Kentucky became the first state in the South to have the authority to enforce non-discrimination statutes.
Raoul Cunningham, president of the Louisville branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he first met and began working with Mr. Martin during the 1968 General Assembly, when the fair housing bill was under consideration.
"He was considered an expert nationally in fair housing," Cunningham said.
Cunningham, then an aide to state Rep. Norbert Blume, D-Louisville, said Mr. Martin's "heart was in the right place, and he used his legal expertise and his skill in drafting legislation" so that it was airtight, with no loopholes, and clearly prohibited discrimination.
"Galen had the same traits always," Cunningham said. "He was very, very committed to equal rights. Through his work with the Human Rights Commission, he strengthened the legislation that created the commission in the first place.
"He had the tenacity of a bulldog. He would sink his teeth into something and wouldn't give up."
In 1972, Mr. Martin was one of the plaintiffs' lawyers in the court case that forced the desegregation of the Louisville and Jefferson County schools, which then operated independent of each other. He also was an author of the school desegregation plan that arose from that case.
In 2003, when Mr. Martin was the executive director of Louisville's Fair Housing Council, he sustained a head injury while riding a mountain bike in a national forest near Bristol, Va. He convalesced in nursing homes in Lexington while he was in a coma and battled pneumonia.
Accusations of poor care were at the center of yet another struggle in his life on behalf of human rights. His wife, Lou Martin, alleged that a nursing home was not cleaning up after episodes of incontinence and was jeopardizing his life.
He moved to another nursing home, where he underwent therapy, and on June 14, 2004, he was moved back into his house in Louisville.
A native of East Rainelle, W.Va., Mr. Martin earned a bachelor's degree in economics at Berea College and a law degree at the University of Louisville.
Published in The Courier-Journal on 12/22/2006.
Galen Martin, one of Kentucky's foremost civil rights advocates for more than four decades, died yesterday from complications that developed after a biking accident three years ago.
Mr. Martin, 79, died in his sleep at his home in Louisville, said his daughter-in-law, Rhonda Martin.
In 2000, Mr. Martin was one of the original inductees into what is now called the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame. The honor was based heavily on his forceful work as executive director of the Kentucky Human Rights Commission from 1961 to 1989.
"You could not call the names of the leadership of the civil rights movement in this state without calling Galen Martin to the front," said William Turner, a University of Kentucky associate provost and former interim president at Kentucky State University.
"This was a man who by the accident of birth was white, yet he was the chief advocate of the state agency whose clients were almost all people of color, at least in the early days," Turner said. "This was his calling, coming from his working-class roots and deepened during his years as a student at Berea College."
Turner, who worked as a Human Rights Commission field representative in Eastern and Central Kentucky in the summer of 1968, called Mr. Martin "one of my friends and my mentors."
Mr. Martin secured his place in Kentucky's civil rights history with his instrumental work on two key bills.
He played a key role in writing and passing Kentucky's civil rights act in 1966. It was signed into law by Gov. Edward T. "Ned" Breathitt Jr. in the shadow of the statue of President Abraham Lincoln in the rotunda of the Kentucky Capitol in Frankfort. This was a historic moment, because it was the first time a state below the Mason-Dixon line passed legislation barring racial discrimination.
Mr. Martin also led the effort that resulted in the passage of the state's fair housing act.
A key feature of both laws was that Kentucky became the first state in the South to have the authority to enforce non-discrimination statutes.
Raoul Cunningham, president of the Louisville branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he first met and began working with Mr. Martin during the 1968 General Assembly, when the fair housing bill was under consideration.
"He was considered an expert nationally in fair housing," Cunningham said.
Cunningham, then an aide to state Rep. Norbert Blume, D-Louisville, said Mr. Martin's "heart was in the right place, and he used his legal expertise and his skill in drafting legislation" so that it was airtight, with no loopholes, and clearly prohibited discrimination.
"Galen had the same traits always," Cunningham said. "He was very, very committed to equal rights. Through his work with the Human Rights Commission, he strengthened the legislation that created the commission in the first place.
"He had the tenacity of a bulldog. He would sink his teeth into something and wouldn't give up."
In 1972, Mr. Martin was one of the plaintiffs' lawyers in the court case that forced the desegregation of the Louisville and Jefferson County schools, which then operated independent of each other. He also was an author of the school desegregation plan that arose from that case.
In 2003, when Mr. Martin was the executive director of Louisville's Fair Housing Council, he sustained a head injury while riding a mountain bike in a national forest near Bristol, Va. He convalesced in nursing homes in Lexington while he was in a coma and battled pneumonia.
Accusations of poor care were at the center of yet another struggle in his life on behalf of human rights. His wife, Lou Martin, alleged that a nursing home was not cleaning up after episodes of incontinence and was jeopardizing his life.
He moved to another nursing home, where he underwent therapy, and on June 14, 2004, he was moved back into his house in Louisville.
A native of East Rainelle, W.Va., Mr. Martin earned a bachelor's degree in economics at Berea College and a law degree at the University of Louisville.
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