Strossen said she would always tell herstudents in her constitutional law class at NewYork Law School to visit the Supreme Courtcafeteria on their court visits.
"He always had breakfast with his law clerks,"she said. "My students always knew they shouldthey go down and talk to him [when they went tothe Supreme Court]."
Admirers said Blackmun's devotion to people'sconcerns did not end with admiring law students-itextended even to those who violently disagreedwith him. Throughout his life, in large part due to theRoe vs. Wade decision, he received around60,000 pieces of hate mail.
"Some of the letters he got wanted to blame himfor everything bad in the world. He became avillain in the minds of thousands of people,"Strossen said.
Blackmun meticulously read every one ofthem-including death threats-and Ogletree said hetook it all in stride.
"He had a sense of humor-he'd read from thepostcards during speeches," Ogletree said.
Even 26 years after the Roe decision, thelandmark ruling continues to resonate withabortion advocates. Kim Gandy, the executive vicepresident of the National Organization for Women,said Blackmun steadily became a stronger advocatefor women's rights, stressing his role in morerecent cases like J.E.B. vs. Alabama(1994), which prevents lawyers from peremptorilyremoving women from juries because of theirgender.
And while a long-time supporter of the deathpenalty, Blackmun wrote a passionate dissent inCallins vs. Collins in 1994, which decriedstate-mandated death sentences.
"From this day forward, I shall no longertinker with the machinery of death," Blackmunwrote.
Strossen argued Blackmun's dissent will beviewed by legal historians like Justice John M.Harlan's lone dissent against segregation inPlessy vs. Ferguson (1896).
"I have no doubt that future generations willpick up this dissent," Strossen said.
Ogletree characterized Blackmun's death, alongwith Justice Thurgood Marshall and Justice WilliamJ. Brennan deaths in 1993 and 1997, as the finalchanging of the Supreme Court guard.
"There is no question that the deaths are theend of an era," he said.
Life at Harvard
As an undergraduate, Blackmun sang in theHarvard Glee Club. He graduated summa cumlaude in mathematics in 1929. An imposingprofessor named Bart Leach coined Blackmun'sHarvard Law School nickname, "Ol' Blackhouse," bymisreading his name. He graduated from HarvardLaw School (HLS) in 1932. After clerking for ajudge on the U.S. Court of Appeals, Blackmunpracticed law privately for nearly two decades.
In 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhowerappointed Blackmun to the 8th District Court ofAppeals. After being nominated by President Nixonto the Supreme Court in 1970, Blackmun began histenure on the court that summer.
"Blackmun's support for the school wasunwavering," said HLS Dean Robert C. Clark in astatement.
Blackmun was a frequent visitor to the campus.In 1982, he celebrated with friends at the 50thanniversary of his law school class. In June of1994, he delivered the Class Day remarks to theCollege. He called the Constitution "a documentaryhero that we should preserve and protect."
Blackmun is survived by his wife, his daughtersNancy, Sally and Susan and five grandchildren