Miles Alexander Celebrated as a Force for Good

A crowd of nearly 900 poured into the sanctuary at The Temple in Midtown to pay tribute to Miles Alexander, the nationally famous attorney who was deeply involved in civic and community endeavors for much of his long life.

The memorial service, which was watched by another 200 on a webcast, heard The Temple’s Senior Rabbi Peter Berg describe Alexander as “a truly great man who was kind and generous and, in every way, the very definition of a mensch.”

Alexander passed away on July 11 at the age of 93.

“He was considerate and wise,” Rabbi Berg said. “He made an indelible impact on our city, the practice of law, and our entire community.”

As if to underline the many contributions Alexander had made to life in this city and this nation, the service was attended by former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, the one-time chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court David Nahmias, former Deputy Attorney General in the Obama Administration Sally Yates, and Andrew Young, the civil rights icon and former Atlanta mayor.

Alexander and his wife of 70 years, Elaine, were often at the center of progressive political life in the city. Among his closest friends was the late Elliott Levitas, who served five terms in the House of Representatives from Georgia’s Sixth District. He was the first Jewish member from the state to serve in Congress.

They initially worked together when, as undergraduates at Emory University in the late 1940s, they joined an Emory debate to argue for the acceptance of Blacks as graduate students at the school. Alexander and Levitas had been attracted to the school because, unlike many major universities then, it didn’t have a Jewish quota system in place.

He went on to study law at Harvard where he graduated with honors before marrying and coming back to Atlanta in 1958. He joined the law firm of what is now Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton because, again, it was one of the few major law firms that didn’t discriminate against Jews.

His experience growing up in an era with the lingering presence of antisemitism made him an active leader in the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). He served twice as the ADL’s regional board chair and a member of its National Legal Committee. He was remembered in a written statement by David Hoffman, interim regional director of ADL in the Southeast.

“As Miles once reflected, his greatest achievement in life, aside from his family and children, was that he had been ‘liked … respected by more people than he ever expected.’ This sentiment captures the essence of a man who dedicated his life to building bridges, fighting injustice, and bringing people together across racial, religious, and cultural divides.”

Alexander spent his entire 65-year career at Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton, eventually becoming its chairman. Today, it is an international firm with 22 offices around the country and nearly 1,000 lawyers.

As one of the nation’s leading experts in trademark law, Alexander was honored by his profession with several national lifetime achievement awards. He served on the Trademark Review Commission of the United States Trademark Association, which led to an overhaul of the Lanham Act. That is the federal law that governs the use of trademarks in America today.

He was instrumental in upholding the copyright protection for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1963, “I Have A Dream,” speech after CBS used it in a Mike Wallace documentary. His win was said to have set a powerful legal precedent.

Alexander was an early champion of inclusion at the firm and became a mentor to Michael Tyler, who was hired in 1981 and later became the first Black partner in the firm. Tyler was one of only two speakers at the memorial service who were not family members.

“Miles was truly the heart and the soul of our firm,” Tyler commented. “He embodied all that was good and decent about who we are and about who we aspire to be, what, one of our former chairmen would term, a force for good.”

In a life filled with so many accomplishments, the one word that seemed to best sum up his life is the word the was heard most often in the memorial service — inspiration. For his son, Kent, one of four children who are all accomplished leaders in Jewish communal life here, that was one of his father’s great lessons.

“I look back at my dad’s life now, not so much with sadness, but really with celebration. If anyone who could have that kind of life over a nine-decade span, he really has won the game of life.”