T. Duckenfield; Headed Law Groups
WASHINGTON — Thomas Duckenfield, a former president of the National Bar Assn., the nation’s largest professional organization of black judges, legal scholars and law students, has died of meningitis while hospitalized in Washington.
Duckenfield, who also served as president of the Washington Bar Assn. and was a member of the District of Columbia and American bar associations, died Friday at age 57.
At his death, Duckenfield was vice president and general manager of the D.C. Division of Washington Gas and president of the Maryland-D.C. Utilities Assn.
Before becoming the first African-American clerk of D.C. Superior Court in 1980, Duckenfield was chief deputy register of wills for the court.
He received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Hampton University in 1957, a doctor of laws degree from Georgetown University in 1970 and a master of business administration degree from Southern Illinois University in 1977.
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